About the Author

Briana Corke is a fourth grade teacher at Carrboro Elementary School, part of Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools.  She has taught kindergarten, first, and second grades, and is currently teaching fourth grade.  Briana has taught both in traditional classrooms, and Spanish / English Dual Immersion Classrooms.  After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with BA degrees in English and Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish, she received a 2006 Kenan Fellowship.  Briana is interested in finding ways to meaningfully include English Language learners in inquiry science instruction. 

In developing “Invention Convention,” Briana worked with Dr. Bill Schmidt of Meredith College.  Dr. Schmidt is a Physics and Astronomy professor at Meredith College.  He assisted extensively in creating useful physical science background material and developing “Invention Convention” to allow students to use electromagnets within their inventions.

“Invention Convention” is a curriculum application project that originated with fourth grade teachers at McDougle Elementary School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Under the leadership of Science Specialist Erin Denniston, fourth grade teachers have implemented “Invention Convention” annually.  Special thanks are given to McDougle’s fourth grade team for allowing this idea to be shared and to be developed to integrate nonfiction writing and meaningful inclusion for English Language Learners.