Sandwich principal gave choice-based approach to learning

SANDWICH – Shirley DeCorte, principal of W.W. Woodbury Elementary School for the past 21 years, did not think education would be her calling.

“I went into education because of my own children,” DeCorte said. “I wanted to do something to involve them with the thought I’d only be in education while they grew up, but 15 years in, I realized that this was my career.”

Now, after 28 years in education at Sandwich, DeCorte will retire.

Although she has spent most of her career in a public school, DeCorte’s first experience in education was at a Montessori school, which she describes as using a more project-­based curriculum that allows children to follow their own interests.

“One of the criticisms of public school is that kids learn to follow directions, but they don’t learn to make choices,” DeCorte said. “I want them to learn to make choices and they need to start at an early age.”

She related that today, most public schools have adopted the philosophical stances of a Montessori school, but she has still managed to initiate various opportunities for students to follow their own interests.

One such example is a multi-year “expert project.”

In this project, students are allowed to pick a topic of interest. They then devote one hour a week over the next three years to researching the topic and create a PowerPoint presentation, including citations.

“At the end, kids can feel like they are an expert in their topics,” DeCorte said. “One good thing about this program is that it brings in a lot of volunteers, so we have people working with small groups of three or four students each.”

She added that Woodbury has worked to create activities for all students ranging from kindergarten to third grade, such as pottery classes, sewing classes, basketball games and cooking lessons.

“If someone tells us they’re interested in something, we’ll find some way to teach it,” DeCorte said.

Although she expects to remain busy in her retirement, DeCorte plans to move to Naperville to spend more time with her grandchildren, Caitlin, 22, William, 19, John, 11, and Aidan, 8.

She also will devote time to volunteer work, writing, and reading biographies of various U.S. Supreme Court justices.

“What I am most proud of is that I have been able to work with a team of educators who, like me, believe that if we make all of our decisions based on what is best for our students, we will be doing good,” DeCorte said.