Kean University recently began a program known as the T.R.E.E. program. T.R.E.E. is an acronym for Tools for Reaching Excellence. It will consist of a four series educational workshop, beginning in February. The initiative was introduced as a way of addressing the rising rate of inclusion classrooms. Inclusion classroom is a learning environment shared by students with and without special needs.

While the needs in general of every student are considerably different, inclusion classrooms introduce needs that are unprecedented. As classroom needs diversify, training should evolve accordingly. Teachers should be prepared to address the needs of all the children in their class and the T.R.E.E. workshops are being implemented to keep up with the developing classrooms.

Susan Rexford, Developer of T.R.E.E., states, “In every education class, any teacher anywhere in the world is going to be presented with some percentage of the class having challenges because kids learn differently. If nothing else there’s going to be learning differences.”

Early years are so critical and it’s extremely difficult to bridge a gap once it has been established. So, should those critical times be unfruitful, it has then jeopardized a vital part of a child’s development and in some instances, sacrificed it entirely. Teachers who understand this can act very deliberately and with well-informed intentions.

The first workshop will be How Difficult Can This Be?  The F.A.T. City Workshop:  Understanding Learning Disabilities led by Dr. Susan Polirstok on Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The second workshop in the series in entitled Tools to Aid the Inclusive Classroom. It will be instructed by Mariann Moran on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Rexford states, “We wanted to present workshops that extended what we learn as education and special education majors that provided some crossover educationally and stimulated out-of-the-box thinking.”

Following that, on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, will be Mindfulness in the Classroom with Timothy Trenary. The fourth and final workshop will be Classroom Management Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms taught by Dr. Polirstok on Thursday, April 28, 2016. Each workshop will take place in room 426 of Hutchinson Hall during college hour.

“[This will teach students] to think outside the box and to really look at each child and see the whole picture,” Rexford states. The workshops will provide a variety of lessons and detailed information on everything from classroom management strategies to effective implementation in classroom settings.

They are designed to create a link between the general education and special education. Rexford continues, “While it’s open to everybody, those three majors (education, special education and psychology) can probably get the most of it.” The primary goal of the T.R.E.E. workshops is to guarantee that all Kean University graduates are thoroughly prepared to provide a continued standard of excellence to its future students.