Since 1997 Mr. Milch and his second period class have been producing the Morning Announcements on Taylor's own KTLR Channel 3. Every day from 10:15 to 10:23, the students in the Advanced Video Technology class broadcast the program for the whole school to see. Every day these kids switch off jobs from anchoring to camera to mixer, etc. They do the pledge of an allegiance, a music video, student activities, sport news with highlights of the games, and teacher interviews. They also have a daily scrambled word, today's weather, today's birthdays, and today's lunch menu. To prepare future producers of the show, Mr. Milch teaches a Beginining Video Technology class where students learn how to use and operate the equipment.

Drama

The Taylor drama program is a yearlong elective program in grades six, seven and eight. While the beginning drama class is an explorative for sixth graders, the advanced drama class for seventh and eighth graders stages two productions per year. Shows are performed to give students ample opportunity to develop character and immerse themselves within their roles. Students also attend regional theater and local high school productions. Guest artists from local professional theaters may hold workshops for the students each year. An academic component is included in course work which requires students to write about theater, character development and stage technique.

Leadership

Class Committees:

Dance:
We put on 4 dances per year. All planning and decoration is done by this committee. If items are to be sold, i.e. flowers, light sticks, photographs, etc., they schedule and arrange for this to happen successfully. They also have the responsibility of set/clean-up. This committe also produces PSAs (Public Servie Announcements) for the Taylor student body that are broadcast on KTLR. Dance Rules

Art and Publicity:
All activities and events requiring publicity and advertisement are handled by this committee. Publicity may include hand made painted posters, Xerox flyers, banners, TV news announcements on our closed circuit TV station.

Environment:
We recycle aluminum, paper products, cardboard, glass and plastic. This group has a daily route of classrooms and areas from which these products are picked up, sorted and deposited into the proper recycling containers. They also make every effort to help keep our campus clean through activities and informative presentations as well as extra pick up around campus.

Activity:
This group is responsible for all our spirit activities and grade competitions. They plan and execute all lunch activities, games and competitions. They also plan and schedule school assemblies. They set up and help with clean up of all these activities. Creativity and inventiveness are a must on this committee.

Soda:
We have a 5 year agreement with the Coca Cola Company to vend and sell their soda products on our campus. We currently operate 5 vending machines and one store which is open only during our lunch period. This group is responsible for all money collection, inventory and refilling of machines on a daily basis. We have a rotating schedule for workers in the student store which is run by student managers.

We do a yearly food collection drive between Thanksgiving and Christmas for the Second Harvest Food Bank.
We regularly work on activities to identify and improve leadership skills.
We are often called upon during "emergency" situations to help out or to make things happen – and we do!

Spanish

Español I, II, and Elective Wheels
Welcome students and parents! My name is Señora Ellis and I teach Spanish to 7th and 8th graders here at Taylor Middle School. For each section I teach, I hope to help the students learn Spanish so they can use it in real world situations. All students will practice speaking, listening, writing and reading skills. A second language is a window of opportunity into a bigger community. The main idea is to take risks, practice as much as possible, and have fun learning!

Helpful web sites for supplementary learning:
http://www.quia.com/shared/spanish/
This site includes games, vocabulary, and different ways to practice your new skills.
http://www.studyspanish.com/
Practice vocabulary - everything from colors, animals, to transportation. Make sure you click "Free" on the left sidebar to do the free practices for each unit. There are also free grammar exercises and verb drills.

Applied Technology

The Applied Technology Class in the Terry Huie Technology Center opened in March of 1997. Since then the goal of the program has been to expose students to a variety of modern technologies. Students in the Applied Technology Elective learn 4 of the following 10 Technology Modules:

Students receive direct instruction from both the teacher and a Multimedia CD-ROM curriculum purchased from LabVolt Systems - the developer of the TechDesign Modular Curriculum. Each Module requires students to complete a series of lessons, most of which include information in the form of text, video, audio and hands on activities - all designed to provide the student with a sound understanding of the science and technology which lies at the heart of the module to which he or she is assigned.

Students spend 8-9 days completing up to 10 lessons from the TechDesign curriculum and are graded based upon their willingness to take an active part in their group's learning and activities.

Upon completion of the Module phase students spend 3 days producing a presentation in which they create their own multimedia show demonstrating to their instructor what they have learned during the duration of their module acitvities. Students choose 3 topics they wish to focus upon and then must explain to me their understanding of those topics through writen language, internet research of topic related web sites, and digital imagry (either from the internet or from digital camera documentation of their hands-on activities). Enterprising students have also found interesting and applicable sound files and QuickTime videos to include in their HyperStudio presentations.

Music

See Millbrae School District Music Web site