Areas of Expertise
STEM curriculum & pedagogy, emotional and behavior disorders, & education leadership,
Background
Over 25 years as a special education teacher, principal and director of child psychiatric services. Recognized by Indiana Council for Exceptional Children as Special Education Professor of the Year in 2012.2.
Research Interests
Comprehensive School Counseling; STEM & students with exceptionalities; Use of Simulations & Case Studies in higher education
Research Publications
- Somers, J (2020, spring). Using a Questioning Technique to Promote and Assess Mathematical Inquiry. ICTM Journal.
- Somers, J. (2020) Using a Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to Promote Mathematical Inquiry, to the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) TECH TALK Blog.
- Somers, J., Zhang, G., & Aiming-Attai, R. (2018). Using a Video-based Learning Community to Support Math Instruction of Elementary Education Pre-service Teachers. eCampus News, March 2018. Retrieved from eCampusNews.
Education
EdD, Curriculum & Instruction and School Administration, Indiana University
Fun fact
I live in a log cabin with two wood stoves as the primary source of heat, no city water and no land-based internet or cable television!
Favorite thing about UIndy
Exceptional students!
Areas of Expertise
Emotional/behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorder, special education curriculum, ableism, Universal Design for Learning
Background
My name is Dr. Sarah Wareham and I serve as an Assistant Professor here at UIndy. I started my career in K-12 Education almost 20 years ago! Wait, what?! That seems like so long ago, but I carry all of those years of teaching with me into this role as a faculty member. I was a Kindergarten to 2nd Grade Special Education Inclusion Teacher for 8 years. During my time in K-2, I worked with a lot of students on the Autism spectrum and become a sort of "expert" in my little slice of the world.
I love the problem solving process that comes with working with students on the spectrum and built my repertoire of skills teaching this population of students. Because of this, I was asked to serve my school district as Lead Teacher and Program Director for the Connections Classroom. This classroom was unique in that we pulled together students with autism from across our District who were under performing in their homeschools in order to figure out which best practices addressed the performance gap we were seeing. Leading this program was both energizing and exhausting, as most teaching is! It was my greatest privilege to work with these students and their families for two years. I ended up handing the program off to another teacher, so I could work more broadly across my school District and the State as an Autism Consultant, and later a Behavior Specialist.
Leaving the classroom and those student and family relationships was hard, but I maintained close connections with teachers who welcomed me into their classrooms to soak in time with their students. I created new relationships during this time that I still hold dear today. In this role, I enjoyed working across multiple stakeholder groups, including UIndy, and once I'd gotten my PhD I had my heart set on moving into higher education and becoming a professor.
The promise of shaping the next generation of teachers, letting them learn from my mistakes, failures, and successes sounded amazing. And it has been! I joined the University of Indianapolis School of Education Faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2019. I've learned so much about myself and the profession of education while working here. My colleagues are great mentors and friends, helping me along the way to develop my research agenda and find my place in this world!
My students are exceptional and I value every opportunity I have to learn from them and support them in their journey to find their place in this world, too! Teaching at UIndy allows me to focus on what I love, teaching! Building relationships with students and faculty across campus allows me to pursue many different areas of interest. I'm still building my research agenda because it's hard for me to choose an area of study. Currently, I'm interested in retention, graduation, and placement of teacher candidates from underrepresented populations, mutually beneficial partnerships with K-12, and Universal Design for Learning on our college campus. These topic vary widely, but the theme that connects them is an emphasis on student engagement and learning.
Research Interests
Depends on the day!
Education
- PhD, Educational Leadership, Indiana State University
- MA, Special Education, Indiana University
- BA, Elementary Education, Hanover College
Fun fact
I live in a multi-generational household with my husband, son, and my father-in-law. I love that my son is so close with my father-in-law. We have a lot of fun and make the best of our situation by sharing household responsibilities. It's a great life!
Favorite thing about UIndy
My favorite thing about UIndy is that you are encouraged to pursue your passions. Faculty and students alike are encouraged to speak up on topics that are important to them and are offered opportunities to affect change on campus and in our community.