An Educator’s Guide to Attending the Upcoming Smithsonian Education Summit and Turning Inspiration into Impact

In summer 2026, the Smithsonian will host its sixth annual conference for educators. Local D.C. classroom teacher, Alejandro Diasgranados, shares his tips for how to prepare, insights on what to expect, and his approach for turning inspiration into real classroom impact.

Walking into your first professional development conference can feel a lot like the first day of school. There’s the familiar buzz of excitement, the subtle jitters of being in a new environment, and the daunting realization that there are more sessions to attend than hours in the day. While the sheer volume of sessions, keynote speakers, and exhibitors can feel overwhelming, these events are also where some of your most transformative teaching ideas can come from.

Professional development conferences can be critical investments in your own professional growth and your students’ ongoing success. Whether you're looking to bridge a specific skills gap or find fresh inspiration to carry you through the school year, preparation is the key to turning information into action. We’ve invited local award-winning District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) teacher and Smithsonian National Education Summit Teacher Advisor, Dr. Alejandro Diasgranados, to share tips and ideas every first-time Smithsonian National Education Summit attendee needs to maximize their learning and bring valuable insights back to their school, library, or museum.

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I attended the Smithsonian National Education Summit for the first time in 2025, and I quickly realized it was not just another professional development conference. It was a gathering of educators, museum professionals, and researchers connected by a shared purpose: exploring how art, culture, history, and science can be used to deepen student learning across classrooms and communities.

Over three days, I moved between virtual and in-person sessions that drew directly from Smithsonian collections and resources, participated in conversations with educators from across the country, and listened to ideas that challenged how I think about my instruction. As an educator, the experience was energizing. I felt like a student again, exploring on a field trip. 

But like many professional learning experiences, I also left with a familiar challenge: a notebook full of ideas, and no clear system for turning them into action. That tension is what can make the Smithsonian National Education Summit both powerful and challenging. It is not just about what you learn while you are there, but how intentionally you engage with it before, during, and after.

Announcing the 2026 Smithsonian National Education Summit

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What to Expect: A Three-Day Experience Centered on Civic Learning and Interdisciplinary Teaching

This year’s Smithsonian National Education Summit theme, "Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union," aligns with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This moment offers an opportunity to reflect on our shared history over the past 250 years and plan for our collective future together.

The Smithsonian National Education Summit is a free, three-day professional learning experience from July 14-16, 2026. The Summit brings together PreK-12 educators from across the country alongside Smithsonian educators, curators, and researchers. Each year, the Summit explores a unifying theme that connects learning across disciplines and contemporary challenges. Sessions are intentionally designed to help educators translate Smithsonian collections into ready-to-use strategies across grade levels and subject areas.

Across the three days, educators can expect a blend of:

• Live-streamed and virtual sessions featuring Smithsonian educators and national partners presenting sessions, such as Photos in Conversation: Then, Now, and Us, led by educators from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Hands-on workshops like Uncovering the Stories Objects Hold, that model instructional strategies teachers can immediately adapt in their own classrooms
• Keynote presentations from leading voices in education, research, and youth literature
• Museum-based learning experiences such as Exhibits in Focus: Bison & From These Lands, led by the National Museum of Natural History
• Opportunities for collaboration and networking with educators nationwide

One of the most distinctive aspects of the Summit is how deeply it connects content to practice. Rather than simply presenting ideas, many sessions invite educators to engage with Smithsonian resources, such as artifacts, oral histories, and digital collections, and consider how they can be used to support inquiry, discussion, and student engagement. At its core, the Summit is not just about learning new strategies, it is about rethinking how students engage with knowledge itself. Educators can connect to content across four distinct Summit tracks, including Cultivating the Power of Dialogue, Designing STEAM Solutions for Civic Challenges, Levaraging the Arts as Civic Voice, and Placing History in Context.

A Multi-Day Structure Designed for Engagement and Application

The Summit experience is intentionally structured to move across different modes of learning over three days.

Day one begins with virtual, live-streamed sessions that highlight classroom-ready strategies and national perspectives on teaching and learning. Educators can explore topics connected to civic inquiry and student engagement, including sessions like Youth Voices: Stories from the Exchange, where educators explore ways to incorporate dialogue-driven, student-led civic engagement into their classroom.

Day two shifts to in-person programming in Washington, D.C. at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where educators gather for hands-on workshops and collaborative discussions. Sessions such as Learning with 3D Objects and Thinking Routines invite educators to engage directly with a library of more than 4,000 printable Smithsonian artifacts, showing how 3D scans and prints can be integrated into classroom instruction from anywhere in the country.

Day three extends learning into Smithsonian museums, where educators participate in facilitated experiences grounded in exhibits and collections. Sessions like We Make History: Community Stories at 250 at the Anacostia Community Museum highlight local record-keepers, collectors, and storytellers and the critical role they play in building a thriving democracy. Educators will leave inspired to encourage their students to see themselves as active participants in history.

This structure allows educators to move between learning ideas, experiencing them in practice, and seeing them grounded in real-world collections and spaces. During my experience in 2025, this layering of learning created space not just for inspiration, but for reflection on how these ideas might actually live in a classroom.

At the same time, it also revealed a familiar challenge: without intention, even the most powerful learning experiences can remain abstract once the Summit ends.

Before You Arrive: The Most Important Step Happens Early

One of the most important lessons I took from the 2025 Summit did not come from a session. It came afterward. Like many educators, I initially tried to take in everything. I attended a wide range of sessions, captured notes across multiple topics, and left with more ideas than I could realistically implement. It wasn’t until I returned to my classroom that I realized something important: the educators who benefit most from experiences like this are not the ones who attend the most sessions, but the ones who attend with the clearest focus.

This year, I plan to approach the Summit differently by identifying one instructional priority before I arrive. That focus might center on student engagement, inquiry-based learning, or creating more opportunities for student voice and discussion. This lens will shape what I choose to attend, how I listen, and what I decide to bring back into my classroom. With a clear focus, the Summit becomes a meaningful opportunity for professional growth.

After the Summit: Turning Ideas Into Action

One of the clearest lessons I took from the 2025 Summit is that inspiration alone doesn’t change practice; implementation does.

I returned to my classroom energized by what I had learned, but like many educators, I was left with a collection of ideas and no clear plan for where to begin. After reviewing my notebook, I realized I had circled “student-led’’ several times, reminding me that I needed to shift more of the thinking and conversation from myself to my students.That experience reinforced something simple: the value of professional learning is not measured by what we remember, but by what we are willing to try when we return to our students.

More Than a Conference

The Smithsonian National Education Summit is more than a conference. It is a collaborative learning experience that connects educators to ideas, resources, and communities that extend far beyond the three days of programming. But its true value is not only in what happens during the Summit, it is in what educators choose to do afterward. When approached with intention, clarity, and a commitment to action, the Summit becomes more than professional learning. It becomes a catalyst for transformation across learning spaces, for the students we serve each and every day.

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Editor's Note: For more details on the 2026 Smithsonian National Education Summit session line-up and to register for free, visit the Summit website at https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2026.

Alejandro Diasgranados | Read More

Dr. Alejandro Diasgranados is an award-winning educator at Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., known for advancing experiential learning and connecting schools, communities, and opportunity to expand what is possible for students. Through innovative classroom practices and strong community partnerships, he works to create learning environments rooted in belonging, curiosity, and real-world experiences.

Ashley Naranjo | | Read More

Ashley Naranjo is a museum educator, specializing in the use of digital resources for teaching and learning. She currently leads education partnerships as the Assistant Director, Education and Outreach Strategy in the Smithsonian’s Office of the Under Secretary for Education. She has developed and implemented professional development opportunities for teachers, librarians and fellow museum educators since 2011. She holds a B.A. in Human Development from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and a M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She is a 2019 graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute’s NextGen of Museum Leaders program.