Supporting one another- we are all teachers...we are all students...we are all community

Opportunities often present themselves for peer supportive learning in our work with children. Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, developed Social Development Theory which states that social interaction often precedes development.  He introduced the observation that a More Knowledgable Other (MKO), which is anyone who has a better understanding or higher ability level than the learner, can support learning beyond the learners present level without assistance.
Vygotsky's theory challenges a transmission approach to learning in which teachers/adults transmit information to students/children.  Thus teachers collaborate with children to support peer learning AND become students themselves, learning alongside the children.
I am often amazed by the tender support and genuine kindness that the children offer one another when scaffolding learning experiences and social encounters.
This evident as the children enjoyed the grape stomping activity.  The extended primary child (S) in pink had already enjoyed the grape stomping earlier.

When one of the younger children (W) arrived in studio with an interest in stomping grapes but no experience having done so, S stepped forward and offered to help.  

S. walked W. through the process and shared warmly in the experience.

S. carefully washed W.'s feet upon completion and when finished they worked together to prepare the stomping area for the next stompers.  S. began another work in the studio and W. began a painting of grapes, animatedly talking about the way they felt beneath her feet.