Why do we do the things we do?

I just got back from spending three days snowed in at a technology conference in St. Louis. It was an excellent conference. The two keynote presenters were fantastic. The first keynote was Will Richardson, who I have followed through his web-logged blog and also read his book. The second day's keynote was Meg Ormiston. What an awesome person! I don't see how anyone could come away with this conference not being challenged as a teacher but more importantly accepting the challenge as a teacher. Will's challenge of building a network of people to learn from and allowing our children and the students we teach to experience building their own networks forces us to let go of the reins as teachers and let the children learn in the way that they learn best. He focused on the idea that the "answer" isn't as important necessarily as the process we use to get the answer.
Meg just blew me away. I left there questioning why I do the things I do when I teach. Why do I teach what I teach? Why do I teach it in the manner I teach? Why don't I do more? When I was driving home I was asking myself all of these questions? The more I thought about it I realized that there was not justifiable answer for any of these questions. That often times I am critical of others for doing the same old same old simply because that is the way it has always been done. What a poor excuse? I really want to go into my classroom and just start throwing things away. Sounds kind of hasty! Maybe I had better do it quick before I change my mind! I really hope that I can break the predictabliliy I have fallen into with my teaching and work to engage my students in a more effective manner. It won't happen overnight but Will and Meg gave me a place to start.