So, when I walked into the class on the first day, my expectations were low. I had prepared myself to answer questions about part of the coursework with which students may have difficulty. I thought I would be answering the same type of questions over and over instead of learning something new. I was surprised when the first question asked to me was something I had never thought of before. The student asked "why." She questioned the basics, foundational knowledge that I had taken for granted, things that I had memorized without actually using any thought. To answer her question, I had to recall real examples and use logical reasoning. I had to think of an explanation which made sense to me and attempt to communicate it to the student, while adapting it to fit her thinking style. So far, I have been asked many interesting, unique questions which I have never thought of before. Helping these different students has allowed me to realize how differently two people can view the same world.

I am so excited to finally be in Grade 12. After four years in high school, I can finally have my first spare block. I have always wondered what the older students were doing in their free block and I have been looking forwards to this day for so long. Because I can't drive yet, I am mostly stuck at school. At my school, people mainly choose two areas to go to: the cafeteria or the library. The library has comfy chairs and couches, but the librarians are pretty strict and there are hundreds of rules. So basically, all that is left is the caf, which our vice-principal patrols 24/7. My older sister told me that free blocks are important in order to finish homework and study for tests, but I have not done either of these things. I find it pretty difficult to study when there are much more interesting things to do, such as talking with my friends. Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation, a teacher will walk by and suddenly comment/give advice. It is kind of awkward and a shock to find out that teachers have whole other lives outside of school :P Really funny things can happen during a spare. For example, my friend was kicked out of the library for leaning against a window; the librarian thought that he could fall out by accident. Also, I was introduced to the whole zombie/apocalypse movie genre: I'm not sure I like the gory bits though. Basically, in my spare, I have been doing everything other than homework and its been really fun :) But hopefully I will learn to be less distracted soon so I can get something done. What do you guys do in your spares?

I have known my two best friends for most of my life. Ever since first grade, we were almost inseparable. We liked the same food, music, people, so we always had something to talk about. In school, we would often get scolded by the teacher for giggling and we were the ones who everyone knew would always do projects together. And in the past 10 years, everything went on fine. All our arguments were small and we were on the same side on disagreements among the rest of our friends. However, last week, two of my best friends got into the biggest fight. They both got really angry over stuff each other had said and vowed not to talk to the other again. It was sad for me because I could see our friendship breaking apart and I was stuck in the middle. Both of them would vent their anger to me and I couldn't comfort them because I didn't want to take sides. It was hard to hang out with either of them as they didn't want to be together while really wanting to talk about the other. Anyways, I really want to mend all of our friendships and say "forgive and forget", but they both believe the issue is too big for that. Sometimes I think it would be easier if they could both just trade punches with each other and be done with it, but obviously it's not going to happen. It would be great if we could all be friends again, but the situation looks pretty bad. Do you guys have any ideas?