Name: From Precedent to Power: Teaching Executive Authority Through George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt
Start: 2026-08-03T09:00:00-0400
End: 2026-08-04T16:00:00-0400
Location: George Washington's Mount Vernon

Walk away with fresh ideas and ready-to-use resources

Using these two leaders as accessible anchors, teachers examine how and why political ideas change over time, when constitutional limits are tested or reinterpreted. Teachers will have the opportunity to hear from renowned historian and presidential scholar, Jeremi Suri, and explore the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Teachers will walk away with fresh ideas, ready-to-use resources, and insights to help students think critically about leaderships and legacies and how to make them relevant to present day.

Schedule

Day 1

9 a.m.	Check In and Breakfast
9:30 a.m.	Why Washington Matters and Connection to Roosevelt Shawnel and Marcie Woehl
10:15 a.m.	Explore how the presidency—and executive power—has evolved from Washington to Roosevelt Jeremi Suri
11:15 a.m.	Break
11:30 a.m.	Classroom Applications Shawnel Padilla
12 p.m.	Lunch
1 p.m.	TRPL Education Resources TRPL Staff Workshop
1:30 p.m.	Narrative Gallery Marcie Woehl
2:30 p.m.	Break
2:45 p.m.	Bringing it Back to the Classroom Shawnel Padilla
4 p.m.	Dinner and Mixer

Day 2

9 a.m.	Check In and Breakfast
9:30 a.m.	Welcome
10 a.m.	How and why political ideas change over time, when constitutional limits are tested or reinterpreted Jeremi Suri
11 a.m.	Break
11:15 a.m.	Primary Source Document Analysis
11:45 a.m.	Lunch
12:45 p.m.	Museum Exploration
2:30 p.m.	Bringing it Back to the Classroom Marcie Woehl and Shawnel Padilla
3 p.m.	Final Thoughts, Next Steps, and Evaluation Shawnel Padilla

Registration Requirements

Who can register?

Teachers MUST teach in a formal K-12 classroom or school setting.
The workshop is limited to 30 teachers.
A waitlist will be available if registration meets full capacity.

Questions? Please contact [email protected]

Meet the Speaker

Jeremi Suri

Jeremi Suri, PhD, holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy.

His other books include: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; Henry Kissinger and the American Century; and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. His writings appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other media.

Professor Suri is a popular public lecturer and comments frequently on radio and television news. His writing and teaching have received numerous prizes, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts.

Professor Suri hosts a weekly podcast: “This is Democracy.” He publishes a daily newsletter on history, politics, and leadership: Democracy of Hope.

Meet the Educators

Shawnel Padilla

Shawnel Padilla is Mi’gmaq First Nations. She’s a former classroom teacher turned school librarian in Alaska. Shawnel earned a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in History and an M.A. in Education from the University of Alaska. She earned a library certification from Montana State University with a primary focus on
Indigenous Perspectives in School Librarianship. Shawnel completed her fellowship in 2023 through the War in Washington’s World Fellowship and is a teacher facilitator for the George Washington Teacher Institute. She is a curriculum creator and consultant with a focus on elementary social studies curriculum and Indigenous perspectives. In her free time, she travels across the United States, exploring museums and historical sites and hiking with family and friends.