Teaching Children Dance, Third Edition
By Theresa Purcell Cone, PhD, and Stephen L. Cone, PhD
Human Kinetics, 2012
206 pages, includes CD
Whether you’re revamping your creative dance program or designing a new elementary dance curriculum, the third edition of Teaching Children Dance will serve as a comprehensive, easy-to-follow resource that contains the theories behind creative dance education and concrete methods to put into practice. It’s co-authored by Theresa Purcell Cone, a past National Dance Association president with extensive experience teaching dance in New Jersey elementary schools. Though it’s geared toward K–5 teachers, it’s a great resource for teachers in studios. Many elements can be applied to creative dance classes in any setting.
Part I describes the benefits of creative dance and how the elements of dance fit into a children’s curriculum. New to the third edition are chapters on assessment, teacher evaluations and ways to include students with disabilities, as well as how dance addresses the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines and new 21st-century skills and whole-child education initiatives that have been formulated since the second edition.
Part II is an idea bank, presenting 23 movement activities. Each activity, like “Ocean Waves and Swimmers” and “Spaghetti Dance,” is explained so thoroughly that you can insert them directly into lesson plans. The Cones list the outcomes (what your students will learn in each activity), how to organize the dancers (whether they dance individually or in small groups) and the equipment necessary. Step-by-step instructions are written in a voice you’d use in class. Reflection topics, assessment suggestions and a few ways to alter the assignments are included, along with a CD-ROM of all worksheets, rubrics and activities.