Trust isn’t something students earn.
It’s something we design for.
A practical guide to creating classrooms where trust fuels agency, belonging, and deeper learning.
Order your copy today!
Many educators want to foster student agency, build authentic relationships, and create classrooms where every learner feels seen and valued. But translating those aspirations into daily practice can feel overwhelming. What does learner-centered education actually look like? How do you build trust while maintaining high academic expectations? And where do you begin?
Teaching with Trust offers a practical, hopeful answer.
Drawing on years of experience in learner-centered classrooms and schools, Carissa Solomon combines classroom-tested strategies, research-informed insights, and authentic stories to show how trust can become the foundation for deeper learning.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all model, this book invites educators to rethink the everyday systems, routines, and relationships that shape students' experiences in school. Whether you're a classroom teacher, instructional coach, school leader, or district administrator, you'll find practical ideas that can be adapted to your own context.
Discover the ideas at the heart of Teaching with Trust
Together, these ideas create a practical framework for designing classrooms where every student feels trusted, valued, and empowered to learn.
Connection
Create a classroom where every student feels like they belong.
Reflection
Help learners make meaning of their experiences to deepen learning.
Meaningful Work
Design learning with authentic purpose and real-world applications.
Time
Rethink schedules to create space for student voice and choice.
Space
Shape environments that facilitate trust and belonging.
Agency
Empower students to take ownership of their own learning.
Early Praise for Teaching with Trust
A timely and deeply human call to reimagine education through radical trust and learner agency. Carissa Solomon weaves research, lived experience, and practical strategies into a compelling vision for shifting learning environments away from compliance and toward deeper connection and real-world purpose. Both an invitation and a roadmap, this book equips educators to restore possibility and joy to learning.
—Em Liebtag, Ed.D., Chief Innovation Officer, Education Reimagined