I understand what you’re saying. What I try to do is ask a question and see if anyone answers it. If not, I might call on a student to see what they have to say. Many times students will know the answer, but aren’t motivated to speak up. Or you have the same people answering the question over and over. I think continually picking on one student who clearly doesn’t know what was going on would constitute humiliation. That’s not what I do—I try to spread the questions around. Do some students resent it? Probably. But I really don’t think a lot of the passive learning model. If a student is tired of not know the answer, maybe they should start to read the material? Ultimtely, I’m there to teach them, not stoke their self esteem.
What you’re doing sounds within reason. Perhaps you should try pop quizzes, though. Those will get your students’ attention really fast.