 He then obtained his first position as principal, in the Napanoch School, Ulster County, New York.Returning to the closing exercises of the Albany Normal School during a week of vacation, Wood accepted an offer of assistant professorship in mathematics.In 1855, Woods went to study at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, but still did not give up teaching, as the Preparatory Department of the Institute was being organized at that time, and he was asked to teach mathematics there.