A few weeks ago, Jen McLellan’s demeanor transformed from trepidation and anxiety into excitement.

With the school year just around the corner and set to begin remotely on Sept. 2, the Mercer Island High School teacher knew it would be challenging to deliver interesting and effective instruction to her students. It was also an open road with endless possibilities. It was going to be awesome, she said with a smile during a recent Zoom interview.

After a summer of robust learning for teachers following the swift switch to online instruction when COVID-19 hit in the spring, McLellan and her peers are exuding confidence in reaping success.

Island native McLellan teaches international entrepreneurship, directs the college and career readiness program and is a co-advisor for DECA, which is the business and marketing career and technical student organization. She’s also the district’s band curriculum and organizational support manager.

“I really do want to thank the school district. They just poured their heart and soul into providing as many opportunities for us to learn,” said McLellan, adding that a vast majority of local teachers took classes, one of which was Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Developing Strategies for Online Teaching and Learning.

It’s all about innovation, McLellan said. Over the summer, teachers learned that instead of lecturing to 30 students for an hour during each class, there should be a hybrid of two hours of synchronous and two hours asynchronous learning per class each week.

“What we should be doing as instructors is we’re delivering the content in multiple ways in short, condensed blocks,” she said.

Students will have options of watching the instructor speak, checking out videos, perusing articles and possibly taking virtual field trips to places like the stock-exchange floor or a science lab. During the week, students will connect with teachers in meetings to discuss how things are going with their assignments. Students will also break out into smaller groups to study and interact with each other, or they can learn on their own time since the online model is set up 24/7.

McLellan, who is in her eighth year of teaching at MIHS, graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a biology/history degree and later taught at Redmond High School and in the Mead School District. After attending Island schools as a youngster, her family moved to Bellevue and she graduated from Bellevue High School. She’s been back on the Island for 20 years with her husband, and their four children attended local district K-12 schools.

With a solid resume and tons of experience on her side, McLellan knows that she and her fellow Island teachers can make their mark in the online realm.

“(In the spring) We’ve learned some hard lessons,” she said, adding that they got the job done. “It’s been wonderful to be able to take courses this summer and learn how to do best practices.”