The use of instructional media facilitates teaching-learning process achievement of set objectives. Instructional media can be used in every lesson irrespective of discipline. Teachers are encouraged to use them in all their lessons. Student teachers should be able to produce and improvise such materials, especially in Colleges of Education. It is not good enough to use them only during teaching practice, but also when the student teachers are in the field of work. The materials must be well prepared, properly displayed, used at the right time and must not replace the teacher in class.
The skill of planned repetition is based on the principle that the more an idea or concept is repeated meaningfully, the more chances the pupils have to remember such idea, principle, key facts or concept. This is as a result of over learning. Planned repetition skill can help the pupils to acquire, assimilate, apprehend, store, recall and retrieve the ideas, principles, concepts and key facts. The learning and repetition must be meaningful if so that the learners will find it easy to transfer the knowledge correctly. If the repetition is not meaningful, it amounts to monotony which may be boring to the pupils. Planned repetition skill can be applied using simple repetition, spaced repetition, cumulative repetition and mass repetition.
The act of bringing an action, event or activity to an end is called closure. Ajibade (2009) affirmed that closure skill is whatever the teacher does to bring a lesson to an end. He directs the attention of the pupils to the completion of the lesson. It is the process by which different units of a lesson is tied up by the teacher in other to establish a link between an old lesson and a new one. It usually associates with the end of a lesson. The types of closure are: instructional closure, cognitive closure and social closure. While using instructional closure, the teacher dominates the lesson and high light the important points of the lesson.
Closure draws the attention of the pupils to the completion of the lesson and enables the pupils to understand and master ideas, concepts, activities and principles. It draws the relationship among them at the end of the lesson. Closure is used to emphasize and focus attention on the most vital points of a lesson so as to establish relationship between the newly acquired knowledge and the previous knowledge and experience. Closure is used to summarize the major points of a lesson and helps to clear misconception and misunderstanding of ideas, facts and issues. Closure skill provides the pupils with a feeling of fruition, fulfillment and accomplishment which serves as drive for continuous learning.
Utilization of chalkboard skill is an instructional skill. Saxena and Khajanchee (2012) described chalkboard as the old-friend of teachers which is still the most widely used teaching media. Zaheer (2013) defined chalkboard as a reusable vertical writing surface on which texts and drawings are made with sticks of chalk. Originally, chalkboard was made of smooth, thin sheets of black or dark grey slate stone. Today, with the emergence of technology and digital media, chalkboard is made of various colors such as white, green and blue and materials such as bulletin, magnetic, interactive, sliding, roller and flannel boards. The utility of chalkboard is being improved on by the use of colored chalk, templates of figures, colored tempo/marker and drawing instruments.
Chalkboard is inexpensive and easy to use. There is no school that cannot afford its purchase. It is a visual material that can be used to write texts, draw diagrams and make lists to support words and voice. Learners’ participation in the lesson is ensured by allowing them to write on the chalkboard. Christopher (2013) found the use of chalkboard more satisfying than the use of power-point. Even in the era of technology and innovations, Christopher noted that the old chalkboard still has something to teach. Despite all its merits, drawing diagrams on the chalkboard is time consuming and the diagrams on it cannot be reused.
Moreover, evaluation is the last microteaching skill. Feedback skill is a post instructional skill. Adegbija (2009) claimed that feedback allows the teacher to identify areas of lapses, omissions and misconceptions in the teaching-learning process. Teachers can be considered as the judge in his own class through evaluation. He takes decisions in the teaching-learning process. The evaluation can be test, assignment, project or paper/pencil examination. According to Saxena and Khajanchee (2012), feedback skill involves giving and receiving feedback from the learners. Feedback refers to communication of feelings, emotions, impressions, knowledge, views, opinions and suggestions on various matters. Feedback skill includes skills of setting questions for examination, giving tests and assignments, marking and collating results, placing objective judgement on learners’ performance, interpreting learners’ performance in tests and examinations and planning measures for learners’ improvement so as to allow them to do better. Feedback facilitates learning and correct usual mistakes done by the learners. It improves the process of learning especially in laboratory, project work, seminars, dialogue and discussions.
