Instruction Interruption is sponsored by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and produced in collaboration with the New Mexico Public Education Department. This episode features veteran teacher and professional musician Joe Dan Lovato, a Math Interventions/STEAM-H educator at Mark Armijo Academy in Albuquerque's South Valley. Lovato is a 2018 NM Teacher of the Year finalist and Teach Plus Policy Fellow the Year. He discusses his views on creating connections with students, finding ways to spark their interest, as well as explains how his own rural upbringing shapes his teaching. Listeners also get to hear one of his songs that he wrote and performed himself.