Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026, Part 1
This week is the Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026, which takes place online and in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit is “Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union” as part of the 250th anniversary celebration for the United States. During this Summit, I’ll be watching sessions across multiple tracks from the comfort of my home office and sharing a quick summary of each. This conference is free! Anyone can sign up if they wish to hear these talks.
How Poems Tell the Story: A Conversation with Amanda Gorman
Award-winning author and former National Youth Poet Laureate, and 2021 inaugural poet Amanda Gorman shared three of her poems as part of the opening talk for the day. She discussed her writing methodologies and the positive influence that teachers (including her mother) have had on her life.
History that Speaks: From Stories to Power
Dr. Gerald Smith Jr. of the Office for the Under Secretary of Education moderated the session and was joined by Dr. Summer L. Hamilton of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum and Dr. Elizabeth Eder of the National Museum of American History and John Hopkins University. The trio discussed their work on ”We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence“. The budding museum will release oral history videos from about thirty women about financial independence as part of the continuing America250 celebration.
Beyond the Visit: Smithsonian Digital Tools
Three Smithsonian National Postal Museum employees — Jonathan Jalbert, Mareen Leary, and Anne Matlock — were joined by Amy Ruza of The Rockwell Museum to discuss different ways of using digital tools to teach students. Highlights included Smithsonian In Your State (SIYS), a collection of four to five minute videos on each of the fifty states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; learning about the Hudson River School through landscape paintings, videos, and the museum’s stamp collection; and using eLearning platforms by Articulate to create digital lessons and activities.
Using Digital Games to Teach What Matters
Smithsonian Science Education Center employees Sophia Elian, Brian Mandell, and Joao Victor Lucena described how they created fun interactives aligned to national curriculum standards. Besides giving short demos of the games, they described the fundamentals of creating games, such as allowing the players to control pace, method of learning, and what is learned, along with giving a shout out to Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” when describing how to create a storyline in games.
Keynote with Mac Barnett
As the 2025-2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Mac Barnett has contributed to over seventy works, including graphic novels, chapter books, and picture books (his personal favorite). Barnett’s platform “Behold! The Picture Book” champions picture book reading for people of all ages. He even read the picture book Shortcut by Donald Crews, the harrowing story of children walking on railroad tracks as a train approaches, which is based on a true story. This was a whimsical yet thought-provoking way to end a day filled with joyful education.