"Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick"

There have been moments when my classes get rowdy, and cranky schoolmarm makes an appearance.  For one thing, the seating arrangements are a big source of the problem.  The other teachers assigned them, and they all do the same thing.  They section the students by ability, so all the high level students are sitting together.  Also, the students are seated according to gender.  This is a recipe for disaster for a couple reasons.  The low level students become one big blob of laziness since there is no one sitting next to them to raise the bar.  Plus, there is no reason the boys should be allowed to sit next to their buddies with the opportunity to screw around.  However, I am a roaming teacher, so it's not my place to make these changes. 

Anyway, the teachers all have these big sticks (from trees) in their classes.  I thought they were kind of weird and old-fashioned until I picked one up and wielded the power for myself.  Now, I whack that thing all over the place.  Say, a student is drawing absently on his desk or playing with a toy when he should be listening to me because I am way more important than a yo-yo.  I just reach over and tap his desk with it.  Sometimes, I hit the board with it for extra emphasis.  Other times, I just carry it around and point at stuff. 

One day, my class was getting too loud, and after repeated attempts at silencing them, I finally said, "We're not doing this anymore!"  "You are going to write the word, quiet, 20 times in your notebook."  One boy whined, "Aww, man!"  Now, wherever did he pick up that that expression?