R2RR 2025
Ready2Read Goes Virtual on January 8th-10th!
Agenda:
Apply to attend the Rendezvous
Outcomes:
Understand how children's services programming ties in to childhood development.
Recognize the importance of this work in the context of early literacy.
Develop efficacy to reach out to community partners to share your story.
Role play talking to stakeholders about your work.
Leave with the tools to create a personal mission statement.
Experience talking about what you do in a new way.
Create a blueprint to grow programming that works in your communities.
Speakers
Keynote by First Lady Gianforte
Dr. Greg Gilpin
Gregory Gilpin is a Professor of Economics at Montana State University. He earned his PhD in Economics from Indiana University in 2009. Dr. Gilpin has established a national reputation in the fields of economics of education, community development, with expertise in empirically analyzing public libraries. Over the past twelve years, he has published 17 peer-reviewed academic articles and several invited articles. Dr. Gilpin has taught a wide range of courses at MSU for over 16 years.
"The Public Value of Libraries" will explore how public libraries enhance community well-being and contribute to societal value. The presentation will highlight Dr. Gilpin's research on libraries, focusing on the role of public libraries as low-cost providers of proprietary information. Additionally, it will examine how libraries positively impact educational outcomes, including increasing test scores among children in neighboring school districts.
Dr. Tammy Elser
Dr. Tammy Elser directs a Master of Education in C & I option at Salish Kootenai College for in-service educators and teaches preservice educators literacy methods.
She has worked nationally providing professional development, program design and evaluation, and strategic planning and facilitation for many schools and organizations. Tammy focuses on practical strategies supporting current and future teachers to achieve excellence for all students. She can be found on days off wandering trails across Western Montana, and occasionally riding to the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
Tammy will share strategies for librarians and anyone who seeks to foster early reading success to jumpstart literacy and motivate independent reading for joy. Integrated literacy routines that can be promoted in the home, library and classroom will be emphasized.
Charlie Luh
Charlie Luh serves as President for the 1000 Books Foundation (a non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity), which operates the nationwide 1000 Books Before Kindergarten early literacy challenge. Since 2013, over one million families have accepted the challenge to read 1,000 books to their children before kindergarten.
Charlie Luh is a founding partner of the Nevada law firm of Luh & Associates. Charlie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University in 1993, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa College of Law, where he graduated with distinction. After law school, Charlie served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Lee M. Jackwig, United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Iowa. Charlie has attained an AV rating (5.0 out of 5.0), the highest rating bestowed by Martindale Hubbell® and has been selected and recognized as a Mountain States Super Lawyer®.
Tell us Something - Storytelling Workshop
Marc Moss
You have a wealth of incredible stories in you. Join host Marc Moss of Tell Us Something as he guides you on a journey of finding your own story. Marc will help you shape that story into one you can share. You will learn about story arc, and a sense of place that will help you tell your story to others.
Marc Moss was professionally trained as an English educator, certified in 1995 to teach English 7-12 in the state of Ohio. He went on to teach in the world’s best classroom, Yellowstone National Park, as a seasonal ranger-naturalist from 1999-2001, telling the stories of the geothermals there, the ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Historical Fort Yellowstone.
He fell in love with storytelling listening to Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home Companion on long drives with his dad as a kid. Upon Arriving in Missoula, he experienced formal personal storytelling for the first time at a live storytelling event at the PEAS Farm, and has been cultivating personal storytelling in Missoula in some fashion ever since.
