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There is feedback to be gleaned when teaching badly if one knows what to look for. And I think being able to interpret the passive feedback and respond appropriately is a large part of what makes a good teacher.
Many teachers, in my experience, don't notice when students are confused or bored -- or maybe they notice but don't care -- and their teaching method and pace is completely unresponsive to the immediate feedback of how well it is working.
Or they notice, and care to some extent, but have other things to worry about. Like a pressure to cover a certain amount of material, or a fear of boring one group of students while they slow down for another, or a (maybe partly justified) belief that the students who are confused and bored just aren't trying.
I think this is a lot of Nancy's point: it takes a good teacher to notice feedback. This suggests a sort of vicious circle: good teachers get better, but bad teachers stay bad.
If we could get the good teachers to teach teaching to the bad teachers...
Yes. Exactly.
Fair enough-- I should have said something to the effect that when you're swimming badly enough, the feedback is impossible to ignore.