Teaching With Trust (creating Space For Learner Agency And Connection)

An educator’s guide to transforming learning environments into communities built on radical trust, empathy, and connection

Teaching with Trust is a professional resource that provides clear support on how to build learner-centered, trust-based communities in your classroom or school. Many educators want to foster student agency and build authentic relationships but lack concrete tools and relatable models to do so. Drawing on author Carissa Solomon’s classroom-tested strategies, this book bridges the gap—it explains the philosophy behind learner-centered education and offers a clear path for transforming school culture with empathy and connection.

Whatever your school setting or role, Teaching with Trust shows you how student empowerment and agency can help students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Practical guidance and authentic examples show how to put these ideas into practice. This framework can help you make learner-centered education a reality.

• Discover strategies for promoting connection, student agency, and self-direction
• Learn from authentic examples demonstrating learner-centered education in diverse school settings
• Engage families in understanding learner centered practices
• Shift toward learner-centered cultures at the school or district level
• Increase student autonomy and provide personalized learning

Whether you are an administrator looking to empower teachers or a teacher looking to make a shift within your classroom, Teaching With Trust provides the support you need.

The book supports diverse student populations by emphasizing equity, voice, and learner agency. It is particularly beneficial for educators working in culturally responsive classrooms and with neurodivergent learners, emergent bilinguals, and students experiencing trauma. Strategies are developmentally appropriate and designed to foster belonging and personalized growth.

Carissa Solomon is the author of Teaching with Trust: Creating Space for Learner Agency and Connection. She is a veteran educator with over fifteen years of experience teaching in public, charter, and private schools. She was the Lead Educator and Adult Learning Designer at Embark Education, a learner-centered micro middle school in Denver, Colorado. At Embark, Carissa helped establish and continuously refine a school model grounded in student agency, authentic learning, and radical trust. She led professional development workshops for educators, school leaders, and policy-makers, and regularly presented at national conferences including SXSW EDU, AMLE, and Big Picture Learning. Carissa is currently a literacy teacher at Denver Green School Northfield, an innovative middle school in Colorado.

Carissa holds a B.A. in Philosophy and History from The George Washington University, an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Secondary Teaching Licensure from Chestnut Hill College. Her writing and facilitation are rooted in the belief that educational environments should empower every learner by centering connection, relevance, and autonomy.