Instructor Spotlight: Magister Lanier
Currently in his fifth year teaching, Magister John Lanier teaches Latin 2 and Latin 3 at OHS. Outside of teaching, he enjoys reading, watching movies, and learning about history.
Magister Lanier went to school in Georgia, which at that time was 49th out of 50th in education index. Magister Lanier describes it as “the second worst [school] in the whole country.” When he was in high school, he didn’t even know what Latin was; the only foreign language option was Spanish. When asked about his high school experience, Magister Lanier describes that he was “a bad high school student.” However, he was very interested in humanities; his favorite subjects were English and band. In fact, he was in three different bands: marching (sousaphone), symphonic (string bass), and “concert band” (tuba).
Magister Lanier first went to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, to major in computer science. The first semester, he took C++, calculus, and a class focused on war and peace. Magister Lanier hated calculus, thought C++ was interesting, and loved the war and peace class. After the first year, he was supposed to transfer to another college, but he decided to drop out. So, Magister Lanier took night classes in downtown Atlanta on the side just for fun. There, he took an “Ancient Mediterranean” basic history survey class and got very interested. Magister Lanier started to read ancient history books on his own and eventually moved to Athens, Georgia to start his undergraduate degree in Classics as a transfer. There, he obtained a triple major in Latin, Greek, and classical culture. He also got a masters in classical languages. He then went to UC Berkeley for grad school and obtained a PhD in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology. There, Magister Lanier realized that teaching was the part that he liked the most. He didn’t “like writing papers or being told how to learn.” The opportunity for teaching came along when Magistra Pisarello introduced Magister Lanier to OHS.
When asked about what he loves about OHS, Magister Lanier says, “The other teachers and the freedom I have in what I teach.” He says that OHS “has really great instructors and that students don’t often recognize that they have wonderful instructors.” In the beginning, Magister Lanier thought that the online format would be difficult to work with. But now, he really likes it and thinks that there are online features that can’t happen in brick and mortar schools like the chat feature. However, it is hard to write in Adobe Connect and there is still a barrier to human interaction. Magister Lanier admits that it is much harder to gauge the feel of the room and that you can’t “look into a student’s eyes and ask them to conjugate a noun.”
Outside of teaching, Magister Lanier likes to read science fiction and fantasy. Currently, he is rereading all of Tolkien’s books. According to Magister Lanier, “in the old days,” he liked to play strategy style board games and go camping. Right now, he lives with his two friends who have a baby, so he jokes that his hobby right now is “hanging out with the baby and walking the baby around.” He and his friend enjoy watching movies and also have an unofficial book club. They read many history books, including a WWII trilogy by Atkins, Caesar, and much more.
If Magister Lanier had to pick one piece of advice for OHS students, it would be to get a calendar. Whether it is digital or on paper, Magister Lanier firmly believes that a calendar will allow students to be organized with time and have better time management. Additionally, students who struggle often do not have a calendar because they do not remember the due dates of major essays or exams. Personally, Magister Lanier uses Google Calendar as he likes its multiple functions, such as being able to color code by subject and being able to create a setting that emails you with a notification 10 hours before a due date.