I never accept Facebook friend requests from students, current or former. However I made a special exception for one particular student who graduated this year. I had her as a student in 5th, 7th, and 8th grade. It seems the cool thing to do on FB amongst kids these days is to a "Truth is..." or "I honestly thik..." on people's wall if they 'like' an initial post. So just for the heck of it, I 'liked' this student's post and here is what she wrote on my wall:

"I honestly think that you are, by far, my favorite teacher ever. I knew that if I had something on my mind, regardless of what it was, I could talk to you about it and I never worried that you'd judge me. As odd as it may sound, I consider you one of the closest people in my life, and you're in a special place in my heart. I'm gonna miss your class and your stupid jokes. Not to mention the random conversations we'd have outside of class. I didn't have to worry about much when I talked to you, because I trust you more than anyone else, basically. I love you.

Sincerely,

You're favorite student. Ever. ;D

It's stuff like this that more than makes up for the lousy pay and the beatings teachers and the public school systems take these days.