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Who is the Alpha? by Tracey Gates, illustrated by Lara Calleja
Tracey Gates has taught elementary students for 30 years. She is also an avid animal lover and an author. Her children’s book, Who is the Alpha?, both memorializes her beloved canine companion, Guinness, and continues to inspire students to write their own stories.
Best friend for all
Tracey Gates
Tracey and Guinness
Gates has taught in Pickerington for more than 20 years, starting with third grade at Violet Elementary School before moving to Toll Gate Elementary School where she teaches second grade. For nine of those years, she was accompanied by her German shepherd, Guinness, a 140-pound therapy dog.
“I trained him myself, but he would do anything and everything I asked him to do. He was just amazing,” Gates says.
She often brought Guinness to school on Fridays, where he played with students at recess, helped monitor the classroom and offered comfort to those who needed it most.
“He would walk around, he would greet every person, and he would go to one person in the room and sit down,” Gates says. “And I have no idea how this dog would know, but it was the one who needed something, like something had happened or they just needed him.”
Tracey Gates
Students with Guinness
After Guinness passed away several years ago, Gates started writing down stories about him in a spiral notebook during her class’s writing time. Her students often begged for her to read them. Many of these stories were about Guinness’s ongoing rivalry with Gates’ husband, Tom.
“Most of the stories at the beginning were about how (Guinness) would not listen to anything my husband said, but he would do anything I said,” Gates says. “My husband could be just yelling at him to do something, and he’d look at him like, ‘Yeah, not going to happen,’ so the kids thought it was pretty funny.”
Gates continued to share stories with her class, and one of her students suggested she publish one. She sent her work to a publishing company, Mascot Books, and within a day, the company told her they wanted to publish her book.
Finally, after collaborating for a year with an illustrator, Gates published her book, Who is the Alpha?, in December 2020.
Engagement through storytelling
Tracey Gates
Although Gates cannot market her book through the school, her book is well-known by her students. She says they can recite parts of the book by heart, and they often ask her to read her stories to them.
“Every time we have a break, they’re like, ‘Can we write?’ Or they say, ‘Read us one of your stories that you’ve written’ or ‘Tell us another story about one of the animals,’” Gates says.
Even before Guinness, Gates’ stories about her animals helped her connect with students.
“When I started teaching in Arizona, I had a cat named Darby, and this cat was crazy. I couldn’t speak Spanish at the time, and I had eight, nine kids in my class that only spoke Spanish,” Gates says. “But we could communicate because they’d be like, ‘El gato loco,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, my cat is crazy.’”
Gates says her main goal of publishing was to encourage students to be excited about writing, and her stories about Guinness and her other furry friends have helped considerably.
“I think (writing) is probably the hardest thing to get kids to want to do as an elementary school teacher. They just don’t want to write,” Gates says. “My classes usually beg me to write, which is remarkable because that does not happen very often.”
Tracey Gates
Guiding growing writers
To encourage her students to write more, Gates makes them feel like real authors.
Every year, her class publishes a book together, with each student contributing a page for one book or a smaller story in a class compilation. Students can even get their own copy to be signed by their classmates.
The class books each have a unique theme, with some of them incorporating different lessons from her class, such as world travel, geography and storms. One year, students even did an escape room theme in which each student’s story led to another.
While Gates says she’s not aware of any former students who have gone into publishing, she has had students who’ve discovered a passion for writing.
“I have had students come back to me and say, ‘I write journals now’ or ‘I write stories and I love writing. I didn’t used to like writing, but now I do,’” Gates says.
Author aspirations
Tracey Gates
Over the years, Gates has accumulated dozens of stories about Guinness and her other pets in her spiral notebook. She says she has a few other books she hasn’t sent to the publishing company yet but hopes to publish one day.
“I have three years to retire and I think I would love to just write books at that point, write children’s books,” Gates says.
Some projects include The Battle Continues, a collection of more stories about Guinness’ rivalry with Tom, as well as a hero series, which includes stories about Guinness rescuing people.
Gates says she’d also like to write a therapy dog book where kids who worked with Guinness would be able to share their side of the story.
In the meantime, Gates is focusing on helping her students find their voices.
“If they’re excited about something and they love it, they can be amazing writers,” Gates says.
Amanda Stevens is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
