5 E's and Inquiry Methods

The 5 Es help teachers to create engaging lessons as well as recognize when their students are engaged. Learning is much more easily facilitated when students invest their interest and attention into a lesson. For that reason, the Inquiry Models of teaching are some of my favorite. They allow students to take charge of their own learning while still being guided by the teacher. The Inquiry Models allow teachers to pose broad, open-ended questions for students to explore on their own or in groups.
While I am a big fan of this kind of teaching, I understand that there are difficulties and downsides as well. If students don't feel like the classroom is a safe environment, the exploration of the provided learning material will be overshadowed by the fear that the students will do something wrong and be punished for it. It's very important for a teacher using the inquiry models to create a strong class community of respect and an environment in which students feel comfortable. If this is done correctly, students will be able to engage with the lesson and experience the joy of learning. When appropriate, teachers can offer a course correction if students are missing the mark completely. This should be done sparingly and with as much tact as possible. Tactfully spinning an "incorrect" answer to make sure the class as a whole is not mislead is a useful skill when teaching using this method.

Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences

In my experience with "Learning Styles" and "Multiple Intelligences," these theories are often used by students to make excuses for why they can't do something. I've heard things such as, "I'm failing that class because I'm a visual learner and the teacher only lectures" or "I'm really talented in Math, but not in Language." I feel these theories, rather than assisting teachers in reaching their students, have done harm to students by making them think that learning should come easy. If learning doesn't come easy, the problem is not with the student, but with the teacher.
This is a backwards approach to education. While it is very important that teachers make every effort to make their content accessible to students, it won't matter if the students don't put in the effort to learn the content. The most thoughtful and engaging learning activity could capture the attention of that one hard-to-reach student, but unless the student makes an effort to internalize the content, the student will still fall behind the other students in the class.
On that note, I'd like to discuss direct instruction as a teaching method. While I certainly think that it has its place in education, I believe it should be used with great care. Direct instruction is the kind of teaching that "trouble students" dread. It is difficult to create an engaging lesson with this teaching method. However, it requires less planning than many other instructional methods. For this reason, teachers should feel free to make use of it. With a burn-out rate as high as what is experienced in education, teachers should keep in mind their own mental health when crafting their lessons. Direct instruction lessons can be used to teach concepts that the teacher is confident the students will grasp easily. It can also be used to provide scaffolding for a more engaging lesson later down the road.