Last year one of my students tragically lost a close family member. She had been my students for nearly 3 years already so we already had a good teacher-student relationship. She was out of school for about a week. She came into my classroom during another class period just to pick up her missing assignments.

More important than making sure she had all her assignments, I made sure she knew how much I cared about her, gave her a big hug, and cried with her for a moment- right in front of a class full of students! We continue to build our relationship this year and I enjoy having her in my class once again.