In order to have a topic to focus on, we took the second lesson of the second unit in the national textbook for 12th grade. Also, we focused the lesson on vocabulary and grammatical features in order to set clear goals for the class. We preferred to concentrate on senior year students because some of the learning outcomes expected from more advanced learners such as them, is to perform discussions and debates accordingly. They need to master the ability to start, maintain, pause, restart and finish conversations.

The class starts with a short discussion in regard to Urban Arts, so we can state the topic of the class. Then we will show the structural objectives for the class, which are attempting to recall grammatical features seen before in previous classes and to expand their vocabulary which will be useful for their writing compositions. After that it will start the reading and listening section respectively, with their corresponding activities and corrections. Finally, we will sum up the class trying to make a consensus of opinions.

“Such practices may broaden notions of visual culture and increase careful looking and analysis of diverse aesthetic systems. The result of which is compelling and challenging inquiry that enriches and questions both students’ definition/s of art and re-considerations of art production and consumption in our world. (p. 99) 

Within urban secondary art education pedagogy, street art can be included into the curriculum as a form of our daily visual culture and part of a visual language spoken by all. Hughes (2009) stated that "Street and graffiti art are occasionally avoided in the secondary curriculum, yet they have the power to foster new and different ways of learning for all students by encouraging them to explore notions of creative expression in urban, public areas including spaces not traditionally reserved for public art". We wanted to take as a reference the city of Valparaíso, whose walls are covered with beautiful designs all over the city so that students will have more input and prior knowledge to discuss about.

Most of the decisions we made in order to organize the classroom in terms of objectives, materials, learning techniques and so on, were thought carefully. For instance, in the case of the outcome we want them to perform a sort of discussion because there is plenty of evidence that it actually works. Many studies supports the substantial value of student peer discussion as an effective means of active learning in a lecture class.

 It gives them considerably more practice than traditional teaching and learning methods in taking responsibility for their own learning and, more generally, learning how to learn. Boud, Cohen & Sampson (2014) state that "It is not a substitute for teaching and activities designed and conducted by staff members, but an important addition to the repertoire of teaching and learning activities that can enhance the quality of education". 

Other studies have proved that peer discussion can be effective for understanding difficult concepts even when no one in the group initially knows the correct answer. Often when talking through the questions, the group can figure out the questions without originally knowing the answer, and the answer almost sticks better that way because they talk through it instead of just hearing the answer. Also they have mention that discussion is productive when people do not know the answers because you explore all the options and eliminate the ones you know can’t be correct. Therefore, viewed in this way participating in group discussions throughout the classroom forms a potential condition for learning.

In regard with the materials selected, we chose YouTube videos because it has the potential to be an outlet for students and educators to create change, exchange information and collaborate. Nowadays, educators are shifting from treating this video sharing website as a simply ‘virtual library’ to a space of socializing, commenting, creating, collaborating and assessing (Duffy, 2007). With this shift comes a responsibility to implementing YouTube in the classroom in an effective, collaborative and informative way.

Finally, we used the examples of Valparaíso since it is a source of information that they may access daily. We thought about expanding the discussion to the point of looking for similarities and differences that street art has in Chile with the rest of the world. Students must be aware that they are not people in isolation, we are communities that may look different but in the end, we can find lots of things in common. If not, there is an opportunity to broaden their perspective and their knowledge about relevant issues worldwide 

Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (2014). Peer learning in higher education: Learning from and with each other. Routledge.

Duffy, P. (2007). Engaging the YouTube Google‐Eyed Generation: Strategies for Using Web 2.0 in Teaching and Learning. In European Conference on ELearning, ECEL (pp. 173-182).

Hughes, M. L. (2009). Street art & graffiti art: developing an understanding.

Keys, K. (2008). Contemporary visual culture jamming: Redefining collage as collective, communal, & urban. Art Education, 61(2), 98-101.