Staff profile

Dr. Duffy’s Personal Statement:

I have worked in the public schools as an English teacher, counselor, and program coordinator (a program populated by at-risk junior high and high school students) as well as in mental health clinics and private practice. In addition to currently being an Assistant Professor of Counseling at SUNY Oswego, I run a small counseling practice in Rochester, New York. Much of my current counseling work consists of assisting families with school-aged children and adolescents. Prior to starting at SUNY Oswego, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Counseling at Syracuse University for four years.

I received my Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Rochester in Mental Health Counseling in 2010 as well as my Ph.D. in Counseling in 2013. I am a National Certified Counselor (NCC) as well as an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS). I have experience working with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. I have taught many courses covering topics such as but not limited to counseling theories, human development, counseling interventions, practicum, and internship. Additionally, I have conducted research, published articles, delivered lectures and conducted workshops on counseling-related topics (e.g., mindfulness, the use of metaphor and story in counseling and counselor education, and constructive approaches to counselor education and counselor supervision) around the country.  

My Teaching Philosophy and Method:

Although all teachers are unique, I believe there are some universal qualities found in nearly all great teachers, regardless of content area or the context in which they teach: a genuine interest in their content area, a strong work ethic, a desire to inspire and work with students, a willingness to put students before themselves, the desire to constantly reflect on their pedagogy, and the ability and willingness to collaborate with colleagues and other stake holders in order to support their students. However, there are three qualities that, I believe, transcend the rest based on my experiences as a student, teacher, and emerging researcher in the realm of counselor education: the desire and ability to establish a strong relationship with students; a strong understanding of how to facilitate the process of learning within a student population that is nearly always diverse related to variables such as learning style, level of development, and interests; and a commitment to life-long learning in regard to both content and pedagogy.

First, great teachers must genuinely connect with their students. This is not something that teachers can fake; it is only something that transpires when teachers authentically bring themselves into the classroom and strive to create a learning environment that invites students to do the same. Since my tenure in the public schools as a high school English Teacher and program coordinator, I have strived to co-construct with students a learning environment that feels safe and provides the necessary space for students to be authentic. I accomplish this in different ways.  For example, one way that I accomplish this is by dialoguing with students about how to best provide feedback to others (e.g., when having a class discussion or providing feedback after watching a student’s counseling tape). We also talk about how to hear and respond to feedback. This is not done in a didactic manner; rather, I use open-ended questions, student-directed role plays, and other methods to provide students the space to construct a conceptualization of how successful discussions and, more broadly, classrooms operate. Inevitably, we always come to a place of agreement as a group, a place that gives students a sense of ownership of the overall structure of the classroom as well as a co-constructed conceptualization of how to negotiate the space we will share for the semester. Another example that appears so small – yet I believe makes a big difference - is that I invite my graduate students (I only teach graduate students) to call me Jason as opposed to Dr. Duffy. My rationale for this is to lessen the illusory hierarchy that is typically reified within the college classroom, one that immediately creates distance between student and professor. I have found that most students appreciate this shift and, along with other ways I facilitate learning in the classroom, constructs an environment where students take more ownership for their learning and move away from viewing the teacher as the fount of knowledge and themselves as passive in the learning process. I have found that the combination of co-constructing the learning environment with students and lessoning the hierarchy that typically exists in the classroom empowers students and promotes a willingness to take the intellectual risks that, I believe, are necessary for learning and development.

Successful teachers must also find ways to engage all students in the learning process. As a constructivist-oriented educator, I agree with the premise that students make meaning of new phenomena by accessing their prior knowledge and experience and using these to make sense of novelty (Piaget, 1977; Mahoney, 1991). It is through the process of integrating the known and novel that students learn. Teachers can facilitate this learning process by creating activities that prompt students to consciously explore their prior knowledge and experiences while also engaging with new content or honing new skills. When planning lessons and units, I often ask myself: What types of activities will allow students to learn what they need to learn (e.g., according to our curriculum standards and the benchmark standards set by our credentialing body, CACREP) and, at the same time, permit them to consciously bring their own interests and knowledge into their learning? There are many ways that I strive to bring about this type of self-reflection and self awareness in students. For example, I typically attempt to move away from multiple-choice approaches to assessment. Not that I don’t use this type of assessment at times (many of my students will have to take credentialing and licensing exams that will be primarily multiple choice); however, I have found that this type of approach is one that does not give students the ability to really wrestle with the complexity of many questions as well as the complexity of many answers that are discussed in the fields of human development and counseling. Instead, I design both formative and benchmark assessments that push students to critically reflect on how they are making meaning of the content or experiences they are encountering in my courses. One way that I attempt to accomplish this is by creating activities that allow students to apply content in ways that mirror the outside world. For example, I will hold mock debates on important topics in class, have my school counseling students practice parent conferences scenarios with each other, have students form dyads or triads to try out and experience counseling interventions or theories that we are discussing, have students go out into the community and ask questions of school counselors and clinicians at clinical sites related to the questions or ideas students are encountering in the course, use case studies to allow students to apply the content from the class readings and discussions, and have students work with volunteer clients from outside of our Department to create a more real-world experience. These types of activities move students away from the mentality that they are receptacles being filled with knowledge by their instructor and instead position them as active co-creators of knowledge. This positioning, from my perspective, leads to empowered students that feel confident and prepared to engage with tough questions and material, students confident that they can navigate the, at times, difficult and anxiety provoking process of development.

Finally, teachers must recognize that there is always more to learn related to content and pedagogy. Setting aside time to reflect on their teaching in order to evaluate and improve it is a quality shared by great teachers. The use of formative and summative assessment assists in this process by not only allowing teachers to gauge where their students are in terms of their understanding and skills, but also how they are performing as teachers. This type of critical reflection on pedagogy is, in my opinion, what separates the great teachers from the rest. As we all know, it is easy for teachers to get stuck teaching the same material, using the same methods, year after year. However, just as the world is constantly changing in myriad ways, teachers must be willing to avoid stagnation in order to facilitate learning in the classroom. Part of my research agenda is examining the integration of constructivist conceptualizations of learning and human development (Mahoney, 1991; 2006 McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2000; 2002) into counselor education. I am constantly exploring research and ideas related to new ways of facilitating learning and development in students. For example, I just recently purchased and read McAulliffe’s and Karen Eriksen’s 2010 text, The Handbook of Counselor Preparation: Constructivist, Developmental, and Experiential Approaches. I also have contributed to this growing body of literature. In December 2014, I published a research article in The Clinical Supervisor that explored the use of metaphor and creative writing as a unique form of assessment in clinically-oriented counselor-training courses. I have further developed this approach to provide a context within which students can creatively reflect on and derive meaning from their experiences in one of the clinical courses that I teach, COU 645: Counseling Prepracticum II: Advanced Multicultural Skills. A manuscript emanating from research related to this will be completed and submitted within the month. I have also collaborated with my colleagues to develop innovative approaches to pedagogy as well as the process of doctoral admissions and co-developed and co-taught a doctoral-level course on experiential and constructivist pedagogy.

Too often teachers feel that an exemplary understanding of their content area is sufficient to assume the role of teacher. However, teaching is a topic and practice in its own right, one that is just as important as the content being taught. I believe that my experiential and constructivist approach to teaching inspires and empowers my students and prepares them for the challenges they will face during their clinical placements in my program and during their careers.

References

Mahoney, M. J. (1991). Human change processes: The scientific foundations of psychotherapy. New York: BasicBooks.
Mahoney, M. J. (2006). Constructive psychotherapy: Theory and practice. New York, NY: The Guilford press.
McAuliffe, G., & Eriksen, K. (2000). Preparing counselors and therapists: Creating constructivist and developmental programs. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Company.
McAuliffe, G., & Eriksen, K. (2002). Teaching strategies for constructivist and developmental counselor education. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought: Equilibration of cognitive structures. New York, NY: Viking Press.