About
Hello! My name is Bixler (Bih-x-ler) and I am a Senior in the College of LSA, studying English in relation to education and social change (Education for Empowerment minor). I am from Michigan but have traveled to every state in the continental US and love to hear about other's traveling experiences if you'd like to share. I love reading, writing, drawing, and painting, as well as spending time with family and friends. In consultations, I love to learn from others who are both within and outside of my fields of study.
My consulting interests include, but are not limited to, literary analyses, personal narratives, and case study research.
I can't wait to meet you! My consulting hours for this Fall 2023 term are as follows: Sundays Virtual Meeting 7-9p; Tuesdays in-person at Shapiro Undergraduate Library (UGLI) 5-7p; Tuesdays Virtual Meeting 7-8p; Thursdays in-person at Shapiro Undergraduate Library (UGLI) 5-6p.
My Consulting Philosophy:
Throughout my journey of understanding the varied and layered nuances of writing center studies and the role of the consultant, I have begun to uncover what values in tutoring mean the most to me and why. I have also had the chance to test myself in practice and have come away with a greater understanding of the role I want to assume in order to better serve incoming writers in the Sweetland Center for Writing. With my personal experiences and core identities as guides, I now envision my consulting approach to encapsulate three ideological pillars: adaptability, accessibility, and inclusivity.
Adaptability and flexibility serve as a means for me to ensure a balanced tutor-writer power dynamic and a productive meeting of the minds, while embracing the unpredictable and unique elements of each session. Inflexible standards often can leave writers feeling as though their work is at the mercy of restrictive grammar rules and a very narrow definition of success. As a writing center tutor, I aim to remedy this rift between assignment criteria and writer expression, giving them back a sense of power and control in their work as I temper my expectations for each session and let the writer lead me through their concerns and objectives.
It is very important to me that I provide a comfortable and productive learning space through the pillar of accessibility, which highlights writer success and growth at its core. This concept is dual in nature, pertaining to both emotional and physical barriers, of which I have personal experience with. It is my mission as a tutor to create a session environment focusing on comfort, safety, and strong interpersonal relationships as a means of creating equitable and accessible space to work, learn, and grow with conscientiousness with regards to invisible accessibility barriers.
The final pillar, inclusivity, mainly focuses on interpersonal relationships as well, but in the capacity of building trust and creating space for the vulnerability that sharing writing with others often presents. For me, inclusivity, acceptance, and transparency are all closely linked. As a writer, knowing that the person you are sharing your work with is honest, empathetic, and invested in your growth can go a long way in building confidence and in empowering them to seek their own improvement through reflection and expression of the self. No matter the writer’s identity, marginalized or otherwise, providing a safe space for them to present their work and themselves authentically is essential for equity in the writing center, and for writers to feel included and heard.
