Brooklyn Friends School -> Our Community -> Faculty and Staff -> 20 Questions Interviews -> 20 Questions with Megan Gottlieb, May 2009

by Jeffrey Stanley

"That's why I moved to New York, to be a science teacher." Lower School Science Specialist and Seattle native Megan Gottlieb, now in her second year at BFS, teaches science to the kindergarten through fourth grade classes. She came here from the Little Red Schoolhouse where she was the lower school science coordinator and assistant principal. Before that she taught in a pubic school in Chicago through Teach for America, an organization that places educators in underserved public schools. This is her ninth year as a teacher.

1. How does one become a Lower School Science Specialist? Was this something you studied for specifically?

Well, I have bachelor's degree in biology and a masters in elementary education. I knew I wanted to teach children but I didn't know lower school science teachers existed. I mean normally they don't, there's just a homeroom teacher who covers everything. That got me really excited.

2. Did you grow up knowing you leaned toward science?

Sort of. My high school had a big science program in Seattle which also had a great outdoor education program. I knew I wanted to do biology.

3. And Seattle's all outdoorsy, right?

Seattle's a pretty unique place. You can be in a big city but also in pristine wilderness 45 minutes away.

4. Where do you live now?

Kensington.

5. Which is where?

In Brooklyn, out past Windsor Terrace

6. And you're married?

Yes, my husband is a teacher too, and a dean at Little Red. That's where we met.

7. What's your favorite part of your job?

It's hard to choose. I love getting to know everybody over time and be able to work with them year after year. For example in the 4^thgrade right now we're talking about the human body, and last week I was able to say to them, "remember last year when we studied the ball-and-socket joints from the mice we found in the owl pellets? We have ball-and-socket joints, too."

8. You mean owl droppings?

They're actually not droppings. Or poop, or puke. The owls regurgitate the inedible parts of their prey as a pellet, and they have a pretty awesomely elaborate way of doing this.

Awesome.

I love that everything I do is a hands-on activity. It's a lot to get ready but getting messy is kind of fun.

9. What's your least favorite part of your job?

Cleaning up the animal cages. The people at Petland know my name because I go there every week to buy crickets to feed the frog.

10. Do you have any pets?

No. I have been known to take one of these home on occasion during holidays. Also we give them to BFS parents to take care of. It's a good way for a family to try out having a pet.

11. What do you do when you're not busting heads at BFS?

I like to run. I ran the New York City marathon this year, it was my first marathon.

Cool, yeah I ran it once years ago, it was pretty amazing.

I also like swimming, yoga. Also travel. My dad has 8 siblings, he's from a big Irish Catholic family. That makes for easy travel because they're scattered across the country. LA, DC, Colorado...

12. What's your favorite restaurant?

That's super hard.

It's okay not to have a favorite, you can say that.

I'll say The Farm on Adderly. It's a Kensington thing.

13. What kind of food do they have?

They serve all local food, it's all grown within a hundred miles of here.

14. All vegetables I take it?

Yes, I'm a vegetarian. Also Spring Street Natural Foods in Manhattan. I like to cook a lot. We don't eat out that often.

15. Desert island question. What three things would you need in order to survive?

Do they have to be practical?

Nah, whatever you want.

My running shoes?

Sure.

Notebook to write and draw.

16. Oh, you draw? If I'd known we could have covered that under hobbies.

In the scientific observation kind of way.

Of course.

And...I don't know.

Anything at all. Don't overthink it.

My husband and friends and family, people to hang out with, that would be nice.

17. Excellent. What's one thing that's always in your fridge?

Soy milk.

18. Wait, isn't there some thing about it having estrogen and too much of that is bad?

I don't have to worry about that.

19. Oh, right. What's your sign?

I'm a Libra. I think I'm a pretty good Libra.

20. Which one is Libra?

October. The one with the scales. I do have trouble making decisions. I have to weigh everything.