Lately, much has been said and written about providing students with choices, and it's a great method, to improve student involvement in class, giving them ownership of their learning. There are many ways to to help break up the monotony by giving students choices, requesting their input, or just providing random results. This article will discuss how to use random results in typical classroom situations.
One technique is drawing from a hat (or mug, box, basket, other container, etc.). You
can choose anything to put in the hat, but you'll need to decide if you or the students will do the drawing. Try to keep the "hat" above the chooser's head, so there is no possible way to cheat on the draw.
In the hat, you can use different colored poker chips—for this example, consider white, blue, and red—or three other colored objects. You can use the same objects for a variety of applications. When grading free-writes, for example, drawing a blue chip means take an immediate grade on the assignment; a white chip means the writing won't be graded today; and a red chip indicates that the papers will be collected, read over, graded, and a select few will receive comments. By drawing a chip, the students don't know if the assignment will be graded or not, so they must do their best. It also gets students writing more, but the teacher doesn't have to grade every paper!
The chips may also be used for minor homework assignments. Same idea—white is a no grade, blue goes immediately to the grade book, but on red chips, allow a minute or two to fix mistakes before collecting them. It depends on the situation; it's that simple, and the students never know if the assignment will be graded or not, so they have to do their best just in case.
Another technique is to use strips of paper in a coffee mug for completely random choices. This is great for games like charades where students draw random words, topics, or choices. This could also be used to randomly discuss class topics or answer questions.
This is also a great tool for choosing project topics. Put slips of paper numbered 1 through however many students are in the class in a container. Fold the slips and then have students draw their own place in the waiting line. Whoever has the slip with "1" gets first choice of topics, number two chooses second, and so forth. No one can claim a biased order of selection. This is great for research paper topics, where you don't want students choosing the same topics.
Small slips of colored paper also work for forming random groups of students. If you want four different groups, figure out how many students you want in each group and tear that many small slips of colored construction paper. Do that for each group, using different colors. This is a good use for scraps of paper left over after an art project (the thick paper holds up better). Then, go around the room and let the students "choose" their group with the randomized system.
You could use all sorts of everyday items to get random choices. Flip a coin in a two-choice situation. A die or pair of dice can give you even more choices. You could even use a deck of playing cards.
To randomly call upon students, utilize note cards filled with student names and personal information. At the beginning of the year, students can write their name, parents' contact info, text book numbers, hobbies/interests, and other information on a regular 3 x 5 index card. Then, collect these, and when you need to randomly call on a student, pull them out, shuffle, and select a random card (with the student's name on it.) Voila! Random selection of students.
And if you want to ensure you call upon everyone equally, just don't shuffle the cards, and place the used card at the back of the deck. You can cycle through the card deck over and over, ensuring you're calling upon every student equally.
Cards, dice, coins, poker chips, and simple slips of paper can easily make random selections in class. Randomizing classroom decisions helps keep students engaged because they feel they have a part in the decision making process.