LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

David Walbert

David Walbert was Editorial and Web Director of LEARN NC until 2011. In that role, he was responsible for all of LEARN NC’s educational publications, overseeing development of various web applications including LEARN NC’s website and content management systems, and was the organization’s primary web, information, and visual designer.

David holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Selling of Rural America, published in 2002 by Oxford University Press. With LEARN NC, he has written numerous articles for K–12 teachers on topics such as historical education, visual literacy, writing instruction, and technology integration.

Resources created by David Walbert

Fort Raleigh: Earthworks and palisade
Fort Raleigh: Earthworks and palisade
A reconstruction of the earthen fort built by the first European settlers of Roanoke Island in 1585. A palisade is visible atop the earthworks. A sign reads "Fragile Earthenworks -- Please Do Not Climb." The fort is the only structure from the Roanoke settlement...
Format: image/photograph
Fort Raleigh: Interior of fort
Fort Raleigh: Interior of fort
A reconstruction of the earthen fort built by the first European settlers of Roanoke Island in 1585. This photograph shows the interior of the fort, taken from the entrance. The fort is the only structure from the Roanoke settlement whose location has been...
Format: image/photograph
Freed people at New Bern
In North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction, page 4.5
Excerpt from the report of Vincent Colyer, Superintendent of the Poor for Union-occupied North Carolina during the Civil War, about his work with freedmen and escaped slaves. Includes historical commentary.
Format: book/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood and David Walbert.
French firearms
French firearms
At a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a Continental soldier displays a French musket. The Continental Army used firearms and artillery from a variety of sources, but French arms -- and armed forces -- were critical to the American victory.
Format: image/photograph
From documents to digitization
To design a research project using primary sources from the Web, you'll need to know what's out there and how to find it. This article explains what's available, why, and where.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
From proslavery to secession
In Antebellum North Carolina, page 7.1
Between 1830 and 1860, as abolitionism grew in the North, southerners largely stopped questioning the wisdom of slavery and argued strongly for extending it.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669)
In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.9
The lengthy and complicated plan devised by the Lords Proprietors for the government of Carolina would have established a feudal system of elaborate courts, manors, and serfs. Includes historical commentary.
Format: constitution/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert.
Goldenrod
Goldenrod
Format: image/photograph
Goldenrod
Goldenrod
Format: image/photograph
Governing the Piedmont
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.7
As settlers spread across the North Carolina Piedmont in the eighteenth century, the provincial government didn't keep up with them. Westerners weren't fairly represented in the provincial Assembly, and the so-called "Granville District," owned by the one remaining Lord Proprietor, was badly mismanaged.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
Grandfather clock at Allen House
Grandfather clock at Allen House
This view of the inside of the Allen House in Alamance County, N.C. shows the kind of furniture that was present when the house was occupied in the late 1700s. To the right of an open door is a tall grandfather clock, made entirely of wood and brought from...
Format: image/photograph
Graveyard of the Atlantic
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.6
The waters off North Carolina's coast have been called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of the great number of ships that have wrecked there -- thousands since the sixteenth century. Geography, climate, and human activity have all played roles in making this region unusually treacherous to shipping.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
Gray treefrog
Gray treefrog
This gray treefrog was found sunning himself on the window of LEARN NC's office suite. He may be an Eastern gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) or a Cope's gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis); the appearance of the...
Format: image/photograph
Gray treefrog with visible leg coloration
Gray treefrog with visible leg coloration
This gray treefrog was found sunning himself on the window of LEARN NC's office suite. He may be an Eastern gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) or a Cope's gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis); the appearance of the...
Format: image/photograph
The growth of cities
In North Carolina in the New South, page 2.4
Cities grew rapidly after the Civil War, in North Carolina as across the United States. But the great majority of North Carolina's population remained rural. This article includes maps and tables of census data.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
Guest of honor: A presidential banquet
In Rethinking Reports, page 1.3
A research assignment in which students plan a banquet in honor of a president.
By Melissa Thibault and David Walbert.
Helping the wounded
Helping the wounded
A Continental soldier helps a wounded comrade from the field at a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Format: image
Henry Grady and the "New South"
In North Carolina in the New South, page 2.2
Excerpt from a speech by Atlanta journalist and editor Henry Grady, praising the South's recovery from the Civil War, advocating industrial development, and inviting cooperation between North and South. Includes historical commentary.
Format: speech/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood and David Walbert.
High-tech maps: Education or eye candy?
In Map skills and higher-order thinking, page 16
Finally, let's take a look at technology. It's made a lot of maps available, but does it help teach map skills? We've all heard the core arguments for expanding our use of technology in the classroom: that technology engages students, that they're surrounded...
Format: article/best practice
By David Walbert.
Higher order thinking with Venn diagrams
Graphic organizers are powerful ways to help students understand complex ideas. By adapting and building on basic Venn diagrams, you can move beyond comparison and diagram classification systems that encourage students to recognize complex relationships.
Format: article/best practice
By David Walbert.