A Few Important Notes about Preparing Your
NCTE Annual Convention Proposal

  • NEW! 2024 Convention General Information: The 2024 NCTE Annual Convention website, with registration, hotel, and program information, will be posted in the coming weeks as information becomes available. The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the site of the 2024 NCTE Annual Convention, November 21-24. We anticipate rates for the hotels we will contract with in our blocks in Boston to range from $190 to $250 per night. Though the 2024 registration rates are not yet set, the 2023 rates can be used as a guide to budget for 2024.

  • New for 2024 are changes to the Individual Proposal session type (1–2 presenters only): You will be asked to choose to present a 30-minute session OR to be combined with other proposals on a similar topic (presenting for 15, 20, or 30 minutes, depending on how many other presentations are in the session; requests for this session type will be fulfilled if there are proposals to combine).

  • 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.

  • 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, Wednesday, January 31.

  • Also new for 2024 are changes to the schedule for Thursday, the first day of the Convention: workshops will run unopposed, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; concurrent sessions will be held in 2 time slots (1:00-2:15 p.m., 2:30-3:45 p.m.) prior to the 4:00 p.m. Opening General Session.

  • NCTE’s 2024 Convention is an in-person event. 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.

  • The deadline for proposal submissions was 9:00 a.m. ET, Wednesday, January 31, 2024.     

    Proposal acceptance notifications will be sent in late April.                                                                                   

Multiple Speaking Roles Policy

To ensure maximum participation and a fair process for reviewing proposals, NCTE has adopted a policy of limiting individuals to speaking in no more than 3 sessions at the Annual Convention. If any individual has more than three sessions that are accepted on the program, it is understood that the individual will be asked which three sessions they want to retain speaking roles in. This policy reflects NCTE’s commitment to include as many presenters as possible on the Convention program.

Chairing a session and participating in workshops, special interest group sessions, poster sessions, the Classroom Idea Exchange, committee or caucus business meetings, standing group- or assembly-sponsored panels or workshops, or mentoring-specific sessions, such as the Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Institute, do not count as speaking roles.

Questions about the Multiple Speaking Roles Policy may be sent to the Program Chair at

Classroom Idea Exchange

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 this form for Classroom Idea Exchange proposal submissions. The proposal deadline was 9 a.m. ET, Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

All proposal and idea submitters will be notified of their session status in Spring 2024.

  • What You Will Need to Add to the Proposal Form

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    Title (160 character and space limit)

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    Annotation (400 character and space limit)

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    Audience Level

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    Session Type

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    Presenter Roles

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    Description (4,000 character and space limit)

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    Reviewer Level

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    Topic of Emphasis

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    Strand

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    Confirmation that at least one teacher is presenting

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    # of presenters

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    Tradebook author participation

  • Explanation of Session Types

  • Committee Meeting: for business meetings of NCTE committees, assemblies, caucuses, conferences, or associations

  • Half-Day Workshop: longer session devoted to a topic; registration fee will be charged

  • Individual Proposal: with 1–2 presenters; proposer will choose to present a 30-minute session OR to be combined with other proposals on a similar topic

  • Panel Presentation: with 3 or more panelists

  • Poster Sessions: physical poster presented at a poster board

  • Roundtable Session: multiple presenters present on topics; attendees usually listen to 2–3 talks during the session

  • Special Interest Group: for NCTE assemblies, caucuses, or conferences

Explanation of Strands

  • Early Childhood Education Strand
    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.

  • ELATE (English Language Arts Teacher Educators) Strand
    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.

  • LGBTQIA+ Strand 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.

  • LLA (Literacies and Languages for All) Strand
    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.

  • National Writing Project Strand (NWP) Strand
    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.

  • Rainbow Strand
    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.

  • Research Strand
    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.