Does good teaching make a difference?

Good teaching couldn't make more of a difference! It still astounds me how much of an impact the teaching style and just the teacher himself/herself has on my learning experience. Having an amazing teacher isn't just about having someone who is funny or takes you on field trips every other day. An amazing teacher is someone who is so passionate about what they have to say that you feel that passion and share it with them, even if you have never had a passion for that subject before. I took a history class last semester and let me tell you I have always dislike history, but that class nearly convinced me to change my major. The teacher I had was engaging and listened to the students and was obviously passionate about what he was talking about. I wanted to be in class every day and often walked with the teacher after class just talking about what we had discussed as a class that day. I crave that one on one connection with my teachers because I want to soak up as much knowledge as I can while in school. Especially at the college level, I am paying a lot of money to be here, I will get my monies worth! Haha. I have had many teachers from high school as well as at college who have inspired me to continue my journey towards becoming a teacher. I have also had many awful teachers who have inspired me so that I can be one of those amazing teachers in the future, because there will unfortunately always be less effective ones as well. The teachers who connected with me didn't always connect with other students and the same is true for the reverse so it is rather hard to assess just how effective any particular teacher is. We need a diverse array of teachers so that if one student doesn't connect with their current teacher, they can always try again with the next one and hopefully learn more than they had even intended.