A Breath of Fresh Air
by Katherine Romano, Associate Editor

Against the stunning backdrop of a Utah Valley town, teacher and district literacy coach Toni Zundel Boyer is breathing new life into reading and writing.

With the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains to the east and Utah Lake, the state's largest freshwater lake, to the west, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more picturesque spot than Orem, Utah. Nestled among the other equally breathtaking towns of the Utah Valley (Provo is considered Orem's twin), Orem prides itself on its nickname, "Family City, USA," and there are plenty of reasons to see why.

From the killer view, and the crisp, clean mountain air, to the well-maintained neighborhoods and the bustling downtown area, Orem is a place that people are definitely in no rush to leave. One of the many factors keeping Orem's residents firmly planted right where they are may be the superior schools –- and teachers –- in the Alpine School District.

Getting the opportunity to visit this spectacular city was just an added bonus. The real reason we were in town was to see one of those aforementioned superior teachers -- Toni Zundel Boyer -- in action. Toni, a third-grade teacher and trained literacy coach, developed her own reading and writing materials that were later added to the district's list of approved language arts curricula. After being accepted into a summer internship program where she gained insight into balanced literacy, Toni reworked her program and renamed it "Reading Boosters." Next, she sent a copy of the program to an educational publisher, who decided to pick up her entire series.

Willing participants. We met first with Tom Tillman, the principal of Vineyard Elementary, a K-6 school where Toni has been teaching for 14 years. An elementary school teacher himself for seven years, Tom has been Vineyard's principal for three years and is wholly supportive of Toni's literacy program. "Firstly, all of the students are involved and participating, and that's something we are particularly concerned about as principals and administrators," Tom told us. "There is a realism to the stories and prompts she uses. I think the program would stand on its own, but she makes it that much more effective because of the teacher she is and her attitude about education. She truly loves her students," he said.

A literacy leader. As a teacher in a cutting-edge district where the chosen mantra is "every teacher is a teacher of reading," it seems only natural that Toni Boyer would've stepped up to the front lines as a literacy leader. Toni decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own literacy program after the district decided to discontinue the reading program she was using. She had been dissatisfied with the materials for a while, but had been supplementing them with her own music and materials. When the Alpine School District began training teachers extensively in balanced literacy, Toni didn't think twice about jumping on board. "What we had been using was boring and dry. The kids seemed to be learning how to read, but it just wasn't fun," she said. "I really felt like the reading needed to be jazzed up and fun for the kids."

In addition to being a literacy coach for the district, Toni is also a third-grade "core" teacher at Vineyard (she taught first grade for 10 years and second grade for four –- this is her first year teaching third). She's on call as the literacy coach from 7:30 to 11:20 every morning and then has a three-hour block of literacy in the afternoon when she teaches her third-graders.

As a literacy coach, Toni thinks of herself as a one-woman service to the teachers. "It's my job to help them if they’re frustrated with any part of the balanced literacy program. I step in and provide materials for them or model lessons for them about how to teach certain components," she commented.

Although her literacy program has gone through a few different names and packages, the focus has remained the same. The program, which includes titles like "Mr. Pratt's Cats," "A Mammal I Am," "A Flower or a Weed," and "The First Snow," is built around poetry and music and centers on the basics. The series includes a laminated poster, a CD with vocal and instrumental versions of the songs, ready-to-use words for word walls, an instructional guide, writing activities, and much more.

The music in me. When she set out to create her own reading materials, Toni knew for sure that music had to play a big part in order to get kids involved in their own learning. She was definitely on the right track -- she laughed when she told us about how she's had parents report that their kids are belting out her songs in the shower. "Kids today are used to music that has a good beat to it; they don't want the old nursery rhyme type songs," she said. Oftentimes, she'll have a melody in her head to go with lyrics she's written and will go from there; other times she'll hand her lyrics over to musician Dave McDougall, Jr., and let him put his own spin on her words. The songs are all upbeat and catchy -- she's even written a rap -- and all of them have an element of character education woven into the lyrics. "Kids beg me to play them again," she told us. "When kids beg you to do anything in a school setting, it's a good thing."

Just like the revitalizing mountain air we enjoyed during our visit to Utah, Toni is quite literally breathing new life into reading and writing for her students. And just like the glorious setting in which she teaches, she's truly an inspiration to anyone who is lucky enough to come her way.