Secondary Experience

NCTE’s Secondary Section Has Selected a Program with the Best Professional Learning You’ll Ever Find

Whether you love teaching poetry, Shakespeare, graphic novels, critical literacy, choice reading, disciplinary writing, or some other specialty of grades 9–12, this Convention is rich with learning experiences for you. You’ll also be surrounded by a giant network of colleagues you’ll want to stay connected to all year long!

Watch for the New & Early Career Teacher Strand

Search the Convention app and see the Convention program for sessions in the New & Early Career Teacher Strand. These sessions focus on highlighting issues for new teachers and celebrating those in the early years of their profession. Recognizing that teachers today take various paths to the classroom, these sessions will answer questions and offer strategies specifically curated for new and early career teachers and those who support them.

What Kinds of Sessions Can I Attend?

More than 500 sessions on the Convention program are designated for the secondary level. Here are just a few of the topics that will be covered:

• What if We Graded for Growth? Reclaiming Process, Risk, and Identity in Student Writing
• Beyond Elementary: When Workshop Moves to the High School English Classroom
• AI Isn’t Replacing Thinking: How Teachers Use SchoolAI to Deepen Literacy, Engagement, and Student Agency
• Radical Girlhoods: Crafting Latina Narratives of Becoming, Belonging, and Beyond
• From Cringe to Creative Breakthrough: Engaging Young Men as Readers and Writers
• Building Curious Minds and Courageous Citizens through News Literacy
• From Page to Practice: Using YA Novels as Mentor Texts for Novice Writers
• Against Silence: YA/MG Authors and Educators on Censorship, Free Speech, and Social Action
• Reimagining the “Reading Rug”: Using Picturebooks to Foster Curiosity and Critical Thinking in Secondary ELA Classrooms
• Building Bots: Designing AI Agents as Writing Coaches
• When Talking about the News Isn’t Enough: How News and Media Literacy Build Critical Thinking and Civic Engagement in Today’s World
• Making Texts Accessible: Promoting Reading Engagement in High School English Classes
• Reading Requires Books: Imagining a More Hopeful Future for Teachers Navigating Censorship
• Beyond AP Literature: Critical (Re-)Reading, Writing, Creation, and Remix
• The Grief No One Names: Teaching Ambiguous Loss through YA Literature
• From Recipe to Remix: Chaos Cooking and Innovation in the Writing Classroom
• That One Poem: The Lessons and Verses That Ignite Inspiration
• Choosing the Right Texts: Creativity in Selecting and Engaging Students in Literature
• From Apps to AI: Innovative Practices to Illuminate Literacy Skills to Empower Their Futures
• Inspiring Joy: Activities for Implementing Joyful Literacies Pedagogy in Secondary English Language Arts

I’m a School Principal—Are There Sessions for Me?

Yes! This Convention is rich with learning experiences for everyone who supports literacy learning both in and outside the school. If you’re an instructional leader searching for the maximum learning experience, you’ll also want to take advantage of the offerings from NCTE’s Conference on English Leadership (CEL) Annual Convention, “Integrated Leadership: Bridging Literacy and English,” Sunday–Tuesday, Nov. 22–24.

Learn More About CEL

Secondary Level Favorites

Secondary Section Get-Together

Thursday, Nov. 19, 5:45–7:00 p.m.

Meet members of the Secondary Section Steering Committee, hear Section updates and award announcements, and gather with friends and colleagues over appetizers, and hear from keynote speaker Dave Eggers.

High School Matters

The NCTE Secondary Section has selected several sessions for its “High School Matters” series:

• IRL: Inspiring Positive Reading Relationships in the Age of AI
• Feds Watching: Teaching Critical Literacy in Surveiled Spaces
• From Cringe to Creative Breakthrough: Engaging Young Men as Readers and Writers
• Pride in Comics: Teaching Queer Stories with Graphic Novels
• From Dice Rolls to Drafts: Engaging Students in Narrative through Dungeons & Dragons
• Children of the Page: Comparatively Analyzing the Music of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath with Sophocles’ Antigone and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
• The Impact of Censorship on Black Female Language Arts Teachers in Florida
• Portraits of the Past: Connecting Genealogy to Research and Narrative Writing
• Songs That Inspire Deep Reading: Music as Literature in a High School English Classroom

ALAN at NCTE

Hear from author Elizabeth Acevedo during this much-loved ALAN Breakfast event on Saturday, Nov. 21, 7:00–9:15 a.m. If you’re looking for even deeper immersion in YA lit, you might enjoy the ALAN Workshop, “Forging New Futures,” Sunday–Monday, Nov. 22–23. The first 250 registrants will get a box of books! Both of these events can be added when you register for the Convention.

Secondary Section Luncheon

Saturday, Nov. 21, 12:30–2:30 p.m.

This event will feature keynote speaker author Clint Smith, award presentations, and announcements from leaders of the Secondary Section.