Threatening Engagement and Actual Engagement
For a teacher, popsicle sticks are a randomization tool. You can write student names on them, stick them in a jar, and then use them to help you, as the teacher, to be unbiased when calling on students or picking a student for a job. Let's not forget that the popsicle sticks are a tool for you as the teacher. We should not confuse a randomization process for choosing engagement as helping to heighten levels of actual engagement. "Threatening possible engagement is not the same as actually being engaged," said me as a 5th grader. With a critical eye, look at your classroom instruction. Is there any process in your day that is causing you to inadvertently manifest the above scenario, where compliance is the real goal and possible engagement is used as a threat for compliance? Is this really what you wanted?