My name is Bryce Gallagher Lyon, and I grew up in Southern California. I had a long road through my undergraduate education which has helped me to grow and become a better person and teacher. I went to school in the Midwest for a year out of high school, but I had no direction so I came back and took a year off to work and find direction. I worked at an animal shelter near my house and thought I might want to be a vet, but realized that was not really my desire. I have always had a passion for math, and found my passion for teaching through tutoring. I came to USD as a transfer student and completed my degree in Math, picking up many invaluable friends and advisers along the way. My teaching philosophy centers on confidence. At my community college, I had a chemistry professor who told me about her teaching philosophy; she told me that she teaches for the "Aha!" moment. This greatly influenced me and was a strong factor in my passion for teaching. I believe that students need to know that they can apply the concepts; without confidence, knowledge atrophies. We as teachers need to reinforce our students' application of the material and teach them to have the confidence to say that they know it and also have the confidence to ask questions. We also need to allow our students to make mistakes. You can learn a lot more about a student's thought process from a mistake than a correct answer. Often, all that is necessary is a minor nudge in the right direction rather than a complete overhaul of the process.