Washougal principal’s love of reading pays off

Columbia River Gorge Elementary School Principal Tracey MacLachlan has cultivated her passion for children’s literacy in many ways during her decades-long career in academia.

When she started out as a teacher in California, she served as a reading recovery specialist. Later, she became an adult literacy professor at City University. And, in her current role as principal at the Washougal elementary school, she created an annual, all-school book-reading event.

“I’d always been a lover of books, but I really have always been a lover of children’s books,” MacLachlan said. “I would go to Barnes and Noble every month or two and sit in the children’s book section and read (new releases) because I saw what (reading) did for my students. I think the best thing about being a teacher is sharing that passion with kids. I love to see adult readers share my passion of books and literacy for kids, so I’ve done it in a lot of different ways.”

That’s why she’s excited to serve as a regional field leader for the International Literacy Association’s Teacher’s Choice program, an annual project that began in 1989. Each year, teachers, librarians and reading-literacy specialists from different regions of the United States read hundreds of new titles donated by North American publishers and choose 30 of their favorites for readers ages 5 to 14.

Educators who participate in the program can choose to keep the books for their school as long as they read and review them.

“I kind of dole them out,” she said. “I try to read as many as I can myself. I definitely pick out all my favorite authors. I pick out special series that are interesting to me, and (subjects) that I feel like we don’t have good representation of in our library. I encourage all levels of my staff — people in the kitchen, my secretaries, the paraprofessionals in the special education room — to get involved.”

After at least six educators in each area read each book, the best-reviewed books are placed on the literacy association’s annual “Teacher’s Choice” reading lists.

MacLachlan said the program helps publishers understand what people want to read and added that teachers can write a synopsis of the book and let publishers know how they might utilize them.

“It shows publishers and authors where academia feels like it can (use) those books,” MacLachlan said. “I think that that’s probably the part that means a lot to them when they get those results.”

According to the literacy association’s website, the program endeavors to develop annotated reading lists of high-quality new books for young people; help educators find books that enrich their curriculums; guide young people to books that they might not discover or appreciate without the help of a teacher, librarian, parent or other adult; and showcase a diversity of cultures, races, gender identities and abilities.

“It’s been a fabulous experience for me,” MacLachlan said. “As I’m ending my career in the next (decade), it’s an opportunity for me to stay current, which is not always the easiest thing to do in an administrative role. I get to talk to teachers about how to use books and what’s great about them and what’s interesting about them and what we like about them and how kids can benefit from them. I think the program tells us to be more discerning of what kids read and why we want to encourage them to read.”

MacLachlan, who served as the principal at Union Ridge Elementary School in Ridgefield and taught in the Camas School District for 12 years before coming to the Washougal district, has connected educators throughout Clark County with the book-reading program and said she collaborates closely with Nichole Sturges, a librarian at Woodburn Elementary School in Camas.

“Being involved in the Teacher’s Choice program allows Tracey to stay current on new literature, authors and trends in children’s literature,” Sturges said. “It also provides free books to local library collections and classroom libraries. Kids and teachers are able to check out and read these books. As an elementary librarian myself, helping her read and review the books has been invaluable to me in becoming familiar with my library collection, and providing our students, families and communities access to quality literature.”

MacLachlan “has always been someone who has passion for literacy in general and children’s books in particular,” Sturges added.

“I remember years ago having students in my second-grade class that were in her first-grade class the year before. Those students were familiar with and excited about new and popular authors, and had been exposed to many of the new books I wanted to read because, ‘Ms. MacLachlan loves those books,'” Sturges said.