Middle Grades Education · Est. 1977

Powerful learning for the wonder years.

For nearly five decades, Nancy Doda has helped middle schools across all 50 states, Canada, Europe, and the Far East transform how they reach and teach young adolescents — through keynotes, workshops, and on-the-ground coaching grounded in research and real classrooms.

Bring Nancy to Your School Explore the Approach
Nancy M. Doda, Ph.D.
— Brookfield, Vermont —
50/50
U.S. States Served
4+
Continents
45+
Years in the Field
Lounsbury
Award Recipient · 2001
About Nancy

An internationally renowned voice for young adolescents.

Nancy Doda working with middle school students

Nancy began her career as a middle school Language Arts teacher in Florida — and never really left the classroom. She just made it bigger.

While teaching, she completed her Masters and Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Florida and began authoring the seminal "Teacher to Teacher" column in the Middle School Journal, which became an NMSA best-selling monograph. Today she continues that work — in person with school staff, as a charter member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, and through her writing on advisory, authentic curriculum, and what young adolescents most need from us right now.

Her recent work centers on powerful student learning — through superior curriculum design, empowering students as the central focus of the classroom, and coaching teachers in the daily practice of student-centered instruction.

John H. Lounsbury Award National Middle School Association's most prestigious honor (2001)
Distinguished Service Awards VMSA, NELMS, CT Assoc. of Secondary Schools
NMSA Board · 5 years Charter Member, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform
Author Transforming Ourselves, Transforming Schools; Team Organization (with Tob Erb)
The Approach

Four dimensions of powerful learning.

Powerful learning is not a checklist. It's an ecology — interdependent principles and practices that operate together to help young people fall in love with learning and become responsible agents of change. These four dimensions anchor every keynote, workshop, and coaching engagement.

— Dimension 01

Empowerment & Engagement

"Middle school students learn a whole lot better when choice is given and learning is interactive." — 8th grade student

  • Shifting from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning
  • Incorporating student voice in real classroom decisions
  • Scaffolding skill development for independent learning
— Dimension 02

Assessment for Reflection & Growth

"I like having self-assessments because I don't get compared to other students' best; I get compared to my best." — 8th grader

  • Helping students honestly self-assess and act to improve
  • Feedback that helps students and parents take next steps
  • Varied, formative, continuous assessment beyond letter grades
— Dimension 03

Community & Collaboration

"If you don't feel safe, you can't learn much." — 7th grader

  • Building safe, nurturing, respectful classroom environments
  • Learning through successful collaboration
  • Modeling democracy in everyday classroom life
— Dimension 04

Content with Meaningful Context

"What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information... if in the process the individual loses his soul." — John Dewey, 1938

  • Exploring socially significant content in integrated ways
  • Honoring student-generated questions in the learning process
  • Connecting standards to local, national, and global concerns
Services

Three ways to work together.

From a single galvanizing keynote to multi-year school transformation, every engagement is custom-built around the people, students, and questions in your building.

K

Keynotes

Customized addresses that challenge educators to think deeply and act boldly — combining humor, humanity, and the best research from the field.

  • Conferences (state, regional, national)
  • Faculty kick-offs & in-service days
  • Parent & community talks
  • Board & leadership convenings
W

Workshops

Highly engaging, interactive sessions that model the practices being taught. Half-day to multi-day formats; on-site or virtual; teachers, leaders, or full faculties.

  • Job-embedded professional learning
  • Topic-specific deep dives
  • Summer institutes & retreats
  • Cross-team curriculum work
C

Long-Term Consulting

Sustained, personalized support for schools committed to real change. Coaching teachers in actual classrooms, facilitating change teams, and walking the road with you.

  • Multi-year school transformation
  • Classroom & team coaching
  • Curriculum redesign partnerships
  • Leadership cohort facilitation
Topic Library

Workshop & keynote topics.

Often customized — but here's a starting menu of the work most schools and conferences ask for.

01
Making a Difference in the Middle
02
Demystifying Differentiation
03
Teaching the Best Practice Way
04
Why Advisory Matters So Much
05
Young Adolescent Development
06
Effective Interdisciplinary Teaming
07
Curriculum for Understanding
08
Literacy Across the Curriculum
09
Building Professional Learning Communities
10
Using Assessment to Reach & Teach
11
Creating Equitable Middle Schools
12
Courageous & Collaborative Leadership
13
Teaching in a Block Schedule
14
Accountability: An Inside Job
15
Making the Wonder Years Wonderful (for parents)
Recent Writing

Notes from the middle.

A selection of recent essays on what young adolescents — and the adults who teach them — most need right now.

AdvisorySep 2022

Why Advisory Matters So Much

Eight practices to give Advisory a fresh stroke this year — from rituals and student leadership roles to keeping it sacred, face-to-face, and tech-light.

Read the essay →
CurriculumJun 2022

Rethink What We Teach

The mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum has outlived its usefulness. A case for decluttering, slowing down, and building units around the questions kids actually have.

Read the essay →
WellbeingMay 2022

Slow Down. Yes, Really.

The pandemic taught us that slow can be more productive, kinder, and saner. What if we built post-pandemic schools around that lesson instead of the old urgency?

Read the essay →
Her passion for teaching, her love of children, and her commitment to the improvement of middle schools has made Nancy a kind of household name among middle school folk. Dr. John LounsburyFounding Father of the Middle School Movement
Get in Touch

Let's plan something powerful.

Whether you're booking a keynote a year out, scoping a multi-year coaching partnership, or wondering if Nancy is the right fit for your faculty — start the conversation. She reads every email personally.

Most school engagements are scheduled 3–9 months in advance. Summer institute and conference bookings are best inquired about in fall for the following summer.

Nancy M. Doda, Ph.D.

Email
dodainmiddle@gmail.com
Office / Cell
703.901.2705
Mailing
1100 Stone Road
Brookfield, VT 05036
Affiliations
Alliance for Powerful Learning · Tarrant Institute (UVM) · Charter Member, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform