During the excitement of the New Year, English teacher Kathleen Flowers enjoyed a relaxing day of binge watching Netflix with her family, not noticing the letter her husband brought in earlier that day.

Flowers eventually realized that the letter revealed some very surprising news: She had been nominated as one of the select individuals to receive the Teaching Award of Excellence presented by the California Association of Teachers of English.

On Feb. 20, Flowers accepted the award during a luncheon at the CATE annual convention in Costa Mesa.

“I’m honored to win the award, but I am also a little embarrassed,” Flowers said. “I work with so many amazing English teachers who deserve this award as much as I do, so it feels strange to be singled out.”

According to the rules, non-CATE members nominate teachers who demonstrate outstanding literary skills or classroom expertise in teaching English for the award. Each regional council in California can only nominate two teachers at different grade levels. After submission, the CATE board of directors discusses and approves nominations.

Flowers said she didn’t know she had been nominated until she received the letter from CATE in January. Jonathan Lovell, professor of English Education at San Jose State University and Director of the San Jose Area Writing Project, nominated her for the award.

After winning a CATE award for an essay she had written the year before, Flowers applied in 2013 to a summer program directed by Lovell, where the two met. Flowers now works with Lovell at the San Jose Area Writing Project, serving as a teacher consultant.

“Any teacher who is as professionally active as Ms. Flowers, and whose ideas and writings have inspired other English teachers—including an old fart professor like me—to re-think their teaching practices, deserves this award,” Lovell said.

Lovell said Flowers is constantly rethinking and retooling her teaching methods in order to bring out the best in her students.

“I always hope that my teaching empowers my students to pursue their dreams. I want my students to discover themselves as readers and writers and, most importantly, as agents of change in their own lives,” Flowers said.