4,8,9,0,1—these may sound like boring numbers that you would hear in any ordinary math class, but in one math class, these numbers prove to be engaging.

Many teachers at Cardozo are here to help their students and help them grow. One particular teacher who loves to see his students grow and help them in any way he can is math teacher Mr. Gong. Mr. Gong is a hands-on math teacher who will help any student that needs it, whatever the case may be. He is one of the teachers that doesn’t expect you to know everything right away, and is also very understanding.  

Becoming a teacher stemmed from his own past, where he was able to help fellow peers while still a student himself. When he was in high school, Mr. Gong had the opportunity to teach middle schoolers as test prep. “It was fun and exciting, in this case the students I was working with were in a low income area and I wanted them to get into a specialized high school because the opportunities would be greater for them,” he shared.

Once he started doing that, he found that teaching is something that he really wanted to do. He originally wanted to teach history or English, but Mr. Gong excelled at math. He then went to Queens College and got an accounting degree, with a minor in e-commerce. Originally, Mr. Gong said his parents didn’t want him to go into teaching, because teachers don’t make that much money. After he got his degree, he decided to start a small business, and still pursue his passion: teaching. 

“I still really wanted to work with people and help do better,” he confessed.

Mr. Gong has been teaching at Cardozo for 23 years. He first started observing classes, and then student teaching. After he completed his observing and training, Cardozo didn’t have any math positions open. So, he began looking at other schools. However, by some twist of fate, a position opened up for him here at Cardozo.

Despite being a favorite teacher of many students, Mr. Gong is humble in his accomplishments. “Here is the funny part, I don’t foresee myself as having major accomplishments and yes I do think some of the things that I do are pretty okay. I don’t see the accomplishments until years later I see students and they say things are like they say they were,” he explained.

In Mr. Gong’s class, students will not only learn math, but they can also learn important life skills like what college is like. Mr. Gong teaches students to put real effort into their life and work hard if they want to be successful and live life to the fullest. 

Mr. Gong helps students get through the things that he teaches by “making the complicated not look complicated,” he shared. He helps students by trying to find out things they know and the things they don’t so it could help them better understand the topic and fill in the gaps. 

“One of the things that I have learned from being a teacher for a long time is to not have unrealistic expectations, in this case you are supposed to know how to do this,” he recalled. He tries to get the student where they want to be by showing them that it is okay to ask questions and not understand how to do things. 

Outside of teaching, Mr. Gong enjoys Funkos, pop culture, movies, and traveling.