Most American children from age three to eighteen spend around 165 days per calendar year and eight hours daily in a school building. During this time, they unknowingly build relationships with peers, teachers, custodians, counselors, and anyone else occupying these buildings with them. The problem addressed by this study was the lack of positive relationships between middle school students and their teachers. This qualitative study aimed to understand how to improve the teacher-student relationship with students that lead to their social and academic success. In addition, this single case study is designed to help educators become aware of how positive relationships can affect their students' overall achievement. Twelve middle school educators with five or more years of experience were interviewed to learn their strategies for building respectful relationships with their students. Thematic manual coding was used for data analysis to find patterns and themes relevant to the research questions. The findings in this study revealed that all the teachers interviewed have systems that help motivate their students to succeed. Also, the results indicate that all participants interviewed cared for their students and tried many strategies to build respectful relationships even when the student did not have the background knowledge to understand these relationships. The implications of this study determined that participants interviewed during this study genuinely cared about the success of their students and did the best they could with what they had to make it happen. Relationships built between teachers and students can be essential to a child's journey through the education system. Future research on this topic could benefit educators in improving strategies that increase students' motivation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]