Full Name: Annalisa Chamberlain Engel

Birthday: January 11, 1967



I am a California native who attended Piedmont High and then graduated from U.C. Davis (Go Aggies!) with a Bachelor's degree in English and creative writing. After graduating college, I pursued a career in the field of magazine publishing. After 16 years working as a managing editor for high-tech magazines, I decided to make a career change after being laid off. I went back to school and got my teaching credential at Cal State University at Monterey Bay (Go Otters!). This year begins my 7th year of teaching. I spent the first three years at the elementary level, teaching 2nd and 3rd grade. When the school was closed down, I transferred to Ochoa Middle School. It was a big change, but I've adapted and find I love to teach the more complicated topics that come up in 7th grade. Ochoa kids are great, too. Go Bulldogs!



About me:

I have been married 15 years and have two great kids, Spencer (13) and Jason (9). They keep me pretty busy most of the time. (So my time after school is often interrupted with practices, games, appointments, etc.) My husband is also a teacher, but at the college level. We are both cinemanics. He actually worked in film production for more than 20 years, and now teaches college students how to budget and produce films.



Pets: One dog (one-eyed Jack) and one cat (Homer). I'm not going to count the two goldfish since you can't really pet them.



Books: The last books I read were the Game of Thrones books by George Martin--all 5 of them, which translated into about 5,000 pages of reading I did over the summer. It was great! I also love the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, and too many others to list.



Favorite Foods: Sushi, Thai spring rolls, naan, tacos, and so on, and so on, You name it, I like it unless I'm allergic to it (avocado, walnuts, kiwi fruit).