James Woo (Upper Division - Math)
James was born in Seoul, South Korea, moved to Valpairaiso, Chile at the age of 3 and moved to New York City at the age of 5. Since then, he has lived in Woodside, Elmhurst and is currently residing in Bayside, NY since 1995. He has attended PS 12 in Woodside, PS 203 in Bayside, MS 158 in Bayside and Cardozo High School in Bayside. James earned a Bachelor's of Science degree in Applied Mathematics & Statistics and Economics from The State University of New York at Stony Brook. In his undergraduate studies, his goal was to become an actuarial scientist; towards the end of his undergraduate career, James had a change of heart and wanted to make a difference towards the future generation. To achieve that, he decided to share his expertise and give back to the community, specifically towards the students in New York City Public Schools where he had attended since Kindergarten. He received a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics Education at Teachers College, Columbia University in 2012 and has been teaching math to middle school students ever since.
James’ love and passion for mathematics has inspired him to motivate all of his students to strive towards excellence in math. He feels that many students across New York City are scared of learning mathematics at the highest level, because of the abstractness of the language. However, after reading an article in graduate school that describes how students that take Algebra I and Geometry have a high chance of attending and graduating from a 4-year college/university, James has decided that he should teach math to his students with rigor, authenticity and scholarly integrity. James loves making connections with various mathematical concepts with prior concepts learned, challenging his students to reach their fullest potential. He has made a promise to himself that he’s going to give his 110% to make sure that all of his students not only accelerate in math, but that they will love and enjoy learning in his class.
James is an avid board-gamer. Because of this, he is currently facilitating the Brain Games elective, where the students have an opportunity to hang out and talk to other students through various board games. He is also the math team coach at Q300, competing in different math competitions such as MathCounts, the AMC 8 and Math Olympiad. James has been a Yankees fan since 1996 and enjoys going to Yankees games with his friends. In addition, he likes to read books, watch and play sports, watch YouTube, play video games, collect random things, and travel across and outside the country for sightseeing purposes and food.
