NCTE 2026 Annual Convention | Philadelphia, PA
9:00 AM ET | Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Session types for the 2026 proposal form include:
Please note that no proposals will be combined with others to create sessions.
Each proposal must include teacher voices (at least one teacher from any level must be a presenter, including college faculty, preservice teachers, teacher educators, teacher librarians, literacy coaches, and retired teachers). Please indicate the number of teachers on your proposal and add them as presenters with their school affiliations.
When you submit a proposal draft, you will receive a confirmation email that will include information on re-entering the proposal system so you can edit the proposal, if needed. Be sure that the submitter's name is in the first position in the list of presenters; this will ensure that the submitter will receive the auto-reply confirmation email and will be allowed to edit the proposal. Please add each presenter on your session to the proposal (don't only list them in the Description or Annotation fields).
If you have started a proposal draft, be sure to follow the instructions in the email reply you receive to complete and submit the proposal (the status of "pending" means you finished and submitted your proposal; "work-in-progress" means you've started the proposal and will come back to it to finish and submit it). Use the "Save & Edit Later" button at the end of the form if you will want to go back into the proposal to make edits before the deadline. Once you have finished the edits, be sure to submit the proposal by clicking the "Submit" button before the deadline of 9:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, January 27, 2026.
To support community college teachers, a new strand has been added to the proposal form. See "Explanation of Strands" below for additional details.
To request a proposal coach, please submit a draft of your proposal (choose "Save & Edit Later") and email NCTEevents@ncte.org by 9:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, January 6, 2026, with your request. We'll begin assigning coaches on December 15, 2025.
The unique qualities of this event are such that a hybrid format cannot meet the expectations of NCTE's Annual Convention. NCTE recognizes that hybrid-format events allow particular benefits; however, both the participation rates and experiences of attending a hybrid Convention remotely in 2022 provided insight that such experiences are inequitable.
To ensure maximum participation and a fair process for reviewing proposals, NCTE has adopted a policy of limiting individuals to speaking/involvement in no more than three (3) sessions at the Annual Convention. If any individual has more than three (3) sessions that are accepted on the program where they are listed as a presenter, chair, workshop or roundtable leader, or moderator, they will be required to choose the three (3) sessions in which they will have speaking roles. This policy reflects NCTE's commitment to include as many presenters as possible on the Convention program.
Participating in committee or caucus business meetings, committee- or assembly-sponsored sessions, or mentoring-specific sessions, such as the Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Institute, do not count as speaking roles under this policy.
The Classroom Idea Exchange gives classroom teachers the opportunity to share their teaching practices with others who are searching for concrete and easily integrated teaching ideas. Submitters will use a separate form for Classroom Idea Exchange proposal submissions. The deadline for Classroom Idea Exchange proposals is 9:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, January 27, 2026. Submit your Classroom Idea Exchange proposal here.
For business meetings of NCTE committees, assemblies, caucuses, conferences, or associations
Longer session devoted to a topic; registration fee will be charged
With 1–2 presenters; proposer will choose to present a 30-minute session
With 3 or more panelists
Physical poster presented at a poster board
Multiple presenters present on topics; attendees usually listen to 2–3 talks during the session; proposer organizes the roundtables (NCTE does not put the roundtable sessions together)
For NCTE assemblies, caucuses, or conferences
Sessions connect community college instructors to pedagogy-rich content, including sessions on literature, literacy, and student success alongside composition-centered proposals. Sessions embrace college faculty who work at open-admission type institutions, with first- and second-year or non-traditional students, and in student support roles. Sessions may also support conversations between secondary teachers and community college faculty, noting the crossover in roles and student populations.
Sessions focus on issues pertaining to the education of children from birth to age eight, their families, and their teachers. Early literacy is a key concept in these sessions that also address diversities in early childhood and highlight practices and processes that are situated in social, historical, and cultural contexts.
Sessions focus on issues, research, and practices pertaining to teacher development, professional development, and teacher education programs, including preservice and induction programs. These sessions highlight the practice of those who prepare literacy educators or support their continued development through courses, workshops, and inquiry.
Sessions focus on issues pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, and plus students, their families, and their teachers. These sessions address representations of sexual and affectional difference, and they offer a broad understanding of diversity, free inquiry and expression, critical pedagogy, and democratic teaching practices. The sessions encourage the creation of safer, more inclusive schools.
Sessions focus on whole language theory and practice and are reviewed by LLA leaders. These sessions push understandings of critical literacy, inquiry, and collaborative learning, and integrate literacy with other sign systems and knowledge systems situated in social, historical, political, and cultural contexts.
Sessions focus on research, practice, and innovation at Writing Project sites, including promising designs for professional learning and leadership programs; youth, community, and civic engagement projects; and fresh looks at curriculum and pedagogy in the teaching of writing. These sessions highlight the potential of teacher-leaders, and educators more broadly, to work collectively to improve the teaching of writing for all learners.
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.
Sessions focus on issues and strategies related to teaching and affirming culturally and linguistically diverse students, especially African Americans, Latinxs, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
Sessions have been chosen through a refereed selection process sponsored by the NCTE Standing Committee on Research (SCR). Although reports and discussions of research are distributed throughout the Convention Program, sessions labeled "Research Strand" are those that report on rigorous and original research studies as refereed by the SCR.
