Most teachers do not have a completely free choice of what they do with their classes. Assuming you are one of this majority, what would you do differently if you had complete freedom to choose your methods, materials, timetable, teaching conditions, etc?

• What prevents you from being this ideal teacher (ie what are the constraints on you)?
  
  
• What aspects of your current teaching situation allow you to be at least partly like the teacher you would ideally be (ie what facilitations do you enjoy)?
  
  
• Try to categorize each constraint and facilitation as:
  your personal attitude towards a type of behaviour;
  your perception of other people's opinions;
  or your perception of contextual controls or personal skills and abilities
  
  
• Then take a close look at each constraint, preferably with a colleague. Try rephrasing the constraints so they are no longer expressed as facts, for example, 'I always have to focus on grammar because this is what the students expect' could become 'I believe the students expect grammar in every class' or even 'I believe the class would not be satisfied if I did not focus on grammar'. I sometimes call this 'reorienting' - ie seeing the issue from a slightly different perspective.
  
  
• Are there ways of removing or getting round the constraints?
  
  
• Are they really constraints at all, or do you just see them as such?
  
  
• How can you check whether your perceptions are correct?