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The Classics Curriculum
Ordering Information
The
Helping Hand
Linda Hurst
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 Linda
Whittington Hurst, a native of Virginia,
resides in Garland, Texas
(a suburb of Dallas)
with her husband Don and sons Chris and Geoff. After receiving her B.S. in
secondary education, Linda began her teaching career in Virginia Beach, Virginia
in 1971 as a high school history teacher. In 1976 she moved to middle school
where she team-taught in a self-contained multi-level (grades five, six and
seven) classroom in Norfolk,
Virginia. She received her
masters degree in education from Old
Dominion University
in 1978.
After moving to Texas
in 1980, Linda began substitute teaching in the elementary school where her
son, Chris, attended second grade. Finding elementary students a joy and a
challenge, she returned to college seeking an elementary certificate. This
process led her to apply to graduate school to pursue a doctorate in
curriculum and instruction.
In 1984, she began teaching fourth grade at a special learning center in the Dallas Independent School District.
This experience led her to try out the new ideas and theories she was
studying in graduate school. It was while teaching in this learning center
that she met Susan Lilly Hernandez. Together, they developed materials to
teach their students in unique, yet highly effective, ways. Their successes
in creating and implementing innovative curriculum led them to pursue writing
careers.
Susan and Linda developed and published the first unit of curriculum in 1989,
with help from Linda's husband, Don, and another teaching associate, Maureen
DeWeerd. This curriculum has evolved into what has become The Classics
curriculum. It has received much acclaim from home schooling curriculum
specialists such as Cathy Duffy and Gregg Harris, to renown teacher-educator
Michael Sampson, Ph.D., one of the nation's top authorities in the field of
literature-based, meaning-centered instruction.
Linda continued to write and develop unit
studies surrounding themes from her favorite books while home schooling her
two sons. What began as a small endeavor, blossomed into a promising future
in curriculum development. Linda has now published more than ten unit studies
in The Classics series plus numerous other books for teachers,
including How to Write a Unit Study Without Losing Your Mind. She has
also served as the managing editor for a children's magazine for two years.
With her children grown, she returned to Texas A&M
University - Commerce
where she earned a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, Elementary
Education.
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