Time travel: Prairie Lea teacher finds himself working alongside a former student
By Kyle Mooty
LPR Editor
Little did Cody Oxley know that a student he was teaching at Lockhart High School 10 years ago, would be co-teaching a class with him a decade later.
Oxley and Sawyer Burditt are co-teaching the new Digital Media class at Prairie Lea High School.
The men switch off every two weeks; Oxley teaching the ins and outs of the school yearbooks, then Burditt using his expertise on videos and how to better implement them.
Oxley is a big Georgia Bulldog fan (he is originally from the Peach State), and Burditt joked that he pulls for whoever is playing UGA on any given Saturday. They each root for the Prairie Lea Indians.
Both are in their third year at Prairie Lea. Oley is an English teacher and also works with the Yearbook students. Burditt also teaches the FFA (Future Farmers of America) students – he has assembled a barbecue team – and is also an assistant football coach. In fact, Burditt assists Head Coach Steven Brown, and the Indians are off to a 3-1 start this season, the school’s best beginning to a season since 2016.
This year, Prairie Lea decided to add Digital Media to its curriculum.
Oxley said QR codes in the yearbook combine digital media with the usual photographs and copy in the yearbook.
Burditt was a senior in Oxley’s class at Lockhart High when he learned if he helped work with other students he could head down to the shop on Thursdays and Fridays. That’s where he had his most fun.
“I wasn’t a great English student, but I knew if I handled my business, (Oxley) would let me go to shop,” Burditt said.
During an FFA field trip to San Angelo when Oxley was helping out with the FFA, he and Oxley chatted for the first time in detail about career goals.
Back at Lockhart, teachers Oxley and Mark Parrish saw potential in Burditt teaching others and pushed him in that direction.
Burditt attended Tarleton State in Stephenville.
“I really liked school,” Burditt said. “I planned to go work in the oil field, but that year the oil field business crashed. I was also working a little in the music industry so I started filming the bands. I stayed in Stephenville after graduation and worked in the golf industry.”
Eventually, Burditt was superintendent over five golf courses in the Fort Worth area.
Burditt would end up teaching an 8th grade class at Marble Falls.
During his college days, Burditt also worked in radio and had a bar in the Fort Worth area, perfecting his craft of filming as he would video musical acts and post them online.
Oxley had several stints teaching at Lockhart and was considering going back to Georgia when he found himself taking the position at Prairie Lea.
In 2022, Burditt had stopped teaching for a year and moved back to Caldwell County. He “heard through the grapevine” Prairie Lea ISD was looking to hire a teacher.
Oxley had just taken his new post at Prairie Lea in the fall of 2022, but had no idea his former student was also the school’s staff.
“It’s so interesting seeing him at that age,” Oxley said. “That was me. When something upsets him, I tell him here’s how I dealt with it. I’m 44 and he’s 28. A lot of time I see him with all the energy at that age and wanting so much for these kids. It looks like a time traveler.
“Now, we work together on some things like other teachers. Sawyer and I coach this class. It’s brand new.”
The yearbook students film football games, do short videos about the social happenings, interviews teachers, all while working on the yearbook.
“With digital media, that includes yearbooks, selling ads and other stuff,” said Oxley. “Right now, we’re in the process of coming up with a theme. The students all layout and design the yearbook. Our goal is to make enough money to where we can take an end of the year trip.”
Burditt said his students are far advanced in taking videos when he gets them.
“The kids know how to take videos on TikTok and other things on their phone,” Burditt said. “I’m just teaching them how to do it better.”
