First Day

After this first class meeting, I left with some interesting thoughts about leadership. First, I never really thought about the fact that I carry two loaded (albeit concealed) pistols with me when I walk around all day "being" a leader. Then, I thought about how many times I merely threatened their use or the number of times I actually pulled the trigger. Not many with either one which I suspect is a "good" thing. Then it really dawned on me that rarely, if ever, do I think about my supposed "power" - which I guess is another good thing. The second thought I left with is I noticed that the approaches and thoughts about leadership which were discussed in class seemed to have some differences based on gender. A colleague, for example, shared that his kindness was mistaken for weakness in an experience he had as a leader. I (a woman) have never even entertained the thought of being perceived as weak. I view this as an example of socialization and gender-based expectations. I wonder if any other of my female colleagues have "worried" about or thought about perceptions of weakness as a leader. It is further interesting to me because I am sure most female leaders up until recently have had, in fact, to deal with this first hand and I am certain, moreover, that this perception of weakness played on their minds heavily. And now isn't it interesting that a male is dealing with this?
As for the technology part, I am excited to be on the cutting edge of such applications! The school district I work in has just outfitted more than half of all classrooms (with all to follow by the end of the year) as 21st Century classrooms with promethean white boards, student responze systems, document cameras, mini-white boards, phones that are connected to send and receive emails, etc, etc. And there is so much more out there! Even with some disconfort, I look forward to learning a great deal in this area.