Join SKILLS

Are you passionate about social justice? Are you interested in gaining experience in research, education, and/or organizational planning? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the SKILLS program is for you!

SKILLS is a social justice-centered academic outreach program geared towards local high school and elementary school students who aim to become first-generation college students. SKILLS students learn how to carry out original and linguistic research and language activism within their own communities. The project also provides students with academic skills and mentoring to help prepare them for college.

Undergraduate Students

SKILLS is seeking undergraduate students to serve in three different roles in the program during both the winter and spring quarters:

Mentors

Responsibilities include mentoring students and assisting graduate student Teaching Fellows in SKILLS classrooms. Ideally, mentors should have experience working with high school (and in some cases, elementary school) students, AVID students, English learners, and/or Latinx communities. Interest in a career in education is desirable.

Research Assistants

Duties entail videotaping and documenting SKILLS classroom activities. Experience with documentation, ethnography, and/or operating professional videotaping equipment desirable. Interest in graduate school is preferred.

Interns

Work mainly with processing and analyzing video data, in addition to assisting in the coordination of the SKILLS program. Experience with analysis of discourse data, interest in graduate school, and experience with campus organizations desirable.

Requirements

• Commitment to the program for both Winter and Spring quarters
• Commitment of 5-10 hours/week of work
• Concurrent enrollment in ED 199 or ED 199RA for 2-4 units and a letter grade (add code will be supplied upon acceptance to the program)

Other Qualifications

• Ability to speak Spanish or a language other than English is desirable, but not required
• Previous coursework in Chicana/o Studies, Education, and/or Linguistics preferred
• Successful completion of Ling 20: Intro to Linguistics, CHST/LING 187: Language, Power, and Learning, and/or ED 123: Culture, Learning, and Development desirable

How to Apply

You will also need to submit your resume using the Google form, and answer a few questions about your interest in the program. Please contact our Program Manager Valerie Meier (vmeier@ucsb.edu), if you have any questions.

Apply at: http://bit.ly/SKILLSundergrad

The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 PM on November 30th.

Apply Now

Graduate Students

SKILLS is seeking graduate students to design and implement course lessons based on social justice curriculum. Graduate student instructors will be able to work alongside fellow graduate students from different fields and undergraduate students.

Instructors are responsible for

• Designing weekly lessons to be implemented in high school classrooms based on SKILLS curriculum
• Hiring and training undergraduate students to mentor high school students
• Guiding K-12 students in research projects to be presented at UCSB
• Mentoring undergraduate students 
• Collaborating with fellow graduate students and ED, LING, and CHST faculty

Requirements

• Commitment to the program for both Winter and Spring quarters
• Commitment of 5-10 hours/week of work
• Concurrent enrollment in ED/CH ST for 4 units (add code will be supplied upon acceptance to the program)

Other Qualifications

• Ability to speak Spanish or a language other than English is desirable, but not required
• Research related to language, social justice, social identities, community engagement, youth development

How to Apply

Apply at: http://bit.ly/SKILLSgrad

You will also need to submit your resume using the Google form, and answer a few questions about your interest in the program. Please contact our Program Manager Valerie Meier (vmeier@ucsb.edu), if you have any questions.

The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 PM on September 10, 2021.

Apply Now

Partner Teachers

If you are committed to social justice and are interested in a culturally responsive, engaging, and research-oriented curriculum for your students, School Kids Investigating Language in Life and Society–SKILLS–may be exactly what you are looking for. We work with local teachers to introduce a linguistics course that emphasizes the racial, cultural dynamics of language within the everyday lives of students. Please contact our Program Manager Valerie Meier (vmeier@ucsb.edu) with your questions and please fill out this form: http://bit.ly/SKILLSTeachers to indicate your interest.

Apply Now