The Best Practice of All

What are your favorite "best practices" for helping students learn?
Here are some of mine:
Modeling
Story Telling
Cooperative problem solving
Creative dramatics
Think Pair Share
Student involved assessment
Outdoor exploration
However, none of the above will be effective if there is not a trust relationship somewhere in the student's life.
The most fundamental of all teaching practices is developing that relationship with each student. Two pieces of advice I have received from my mentors have helped me to do that. The day before my first day as a "certified" teacher, Jack Gilbertson advised me to learn all the students' names by noon the first day of school. Second, Denny McLoughlin (who is a master at learning 40 names and faces in less than an hour) advised me to find something to love about each student. Especially the most unloveable ones.
How do we do that? We look at them with fascination and curiosity. We don't take it personally if they don't love math. We don't judge if they show up an hour late to class. We celebrate when they arrive. We find out and REMEMBER their ARFF. On Monday we find out their dog's name is Brandy. On Wednesday we ask how Brandy is and the student looks incredulous. "Hey, you remembered my dog's name!" On Thursday we find out Brandy has worms but it's okay because Dad is taking her to the vet. By Friday you are their confidant, know way more than you want to about Brandy's worms, and well on the way to being the teacher that student can trust enough learn from.