Meaningful teacher-student relationships are linked to a range of positive student outcomes. However, there is limited research on how teacher education programs attempt to prepare teachers to form relationships with students. This article employs comparative case methodology to explore how two different teacher residency programs--No Excuses Teacher Residency and Progressive Teacher Residency--attempt to prepare their teacher residents to form meaningful relationships with students. Drawing on theoretical work by Martin Buber and Paulo Freire, this article finds two very different approaches to teacher--student relationships: Instrumental and Reciprocal. It concludes by discussing the implications of each.