Our children [snip] deserve to have a teacher who has time to read their work, to listen, to understand why they're crying or sleeping or not doing homework.
To teach each child in my classroom, I have to know each child in my classroom.
I wonder how much of what we think makes a great teacher just comes from "Stand and Deliver", or "Dangerous Minds". I always thrived more from the "lecture" style of teaching, which I got from very few teachers until I reached college. Maybe that's a personal affinity, but so must be the need for one-on-one interaction. Maybe the tasks at hand do have a lot to do with it.
Interesting idea though, lukifer. I'd be interested in what empirical studies show. I'm sure there is plenty, as biased as most might be in one way or the other.