BYTES Power Smarts

BYTES Power Smarts instructional materials are designed by Kathy Hackett and Theresa Jackson who have over 55 years of combined teaching experience in the areas of elementary gifted and talented students, twice exceptional students, deaf students, and preschool students; adult literacy; and undergraduate and graduate college students. Our students were from diverse backgrounds, and we keep in touch with many of them via Facebook so we can see where life has taken them in their adult lives. We both love teaching, but Kathy had to retire earlier than expected due to a benign pituitary tumor that required multiple surgeries and recovery periods. So, BYTES Power Smarts was born (!) to enable Kathy to continue to contribute to the field of education. BYTES Power Smarts is a collaboration of family and friends working together and using our Power Smarts to give teachers and parents access to high quality materials that stimulate students' imagination, teach them about their multiple intelligences (Power Smarts ®), encourage face-to-face communication with family and friends, and provide independent learning activities (Choice Cards) designed for Common Core Standards and 21st Century Skills.

Our teaching styles are as varied as our experiences and certainly evolved over time. One activity we liked doing at the beginning of the year to teach our students about multiple intelligences, was to have the students write their names on cut out pictures of brains. We would then make a large classroom graph where students could glue their name/brains in the multiple intelligence columns representing their strengths. Anytime there would be a group project assigned, students could consult the graph to make sure they would have students on their teams with a variety of types of intelligences. We had many students that were fast finishers and independent learners, or would compact out of lessons, so learning centers were an important part of our classrooms. We prefer the term Choice Cards over Task Cards because student choice is motivational. We incorporated Bloom's Taxonomy, E. Paul Torrance, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Howard Gardner, and the Renzulli Enrichment Triad Model in our classrooms to engage students in independent, authentic projects, higher level thinking, and creativity.

Kathy received The Washington Post newspaper Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award, the Maryland State Department of Education Chair’s Group Award – Initiative for Maryland Minority Students, NASA Ideas Grant Collaborator Award, City of Bowie Excellence in Education Award, Washington Post Grants in Education Award, and is listed in Who's Who Among American Teachers.

Theresa received the Maryland State Department of Education Gifted and Talented Advisory - Outstanding Educator Award, Time for Kids Excellence in Education Award, Prince George’s County Public Schools Outstanding Educator Award, Prince George’s County Association for Talented and Gifted Outstanding Educator Award, Maryland State Department of Education Chair’s Group Award – Initiative for Maryland Minority Students, and is listed in Who's Who Among American Teachers.

Both Kathy and Theresa have coached 1st place Maryland State winning teams that competed in the global competitions at Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination.

Kathy and Theresa have participated in many curriculum development task forces, and both have done numerous presentations at teacher development workshops and local and state conferences.

Kathy has a B.A. from The College of New Jersey with a major in Special Education. She has completed post-graduate work at The University of California – Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Holy Names College, Dominican College, University of La Verne, St. Mary's College, Trinity College, and McDaniel College.

Theresa has a B.A. from The University of Baltimore, and M.Ed. from Mount St. Mary’s College, and an M.S. from McDaniel College.

Theresa and Kathy have several publications:

Jackson, Theresa. Gaining an Appreciation for Native Americans, Time For Kids Teacher Supplement, October 2002.

Romani, P.N., K. Hackett, T. Jackson, S. Melzer, S. Edwards, and F. Moore. 1997. A successful integration of astronomy into an elementary school curriculum. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 29:1013.

Romani, P. N., M. Frank, K. Hackett, T. Jackson, S.Melzer, and the 6th Grade at Glenarden Woods Elementary School. Integrative Geoscience Solutions: Lesson Plans from the 3rd millennium B.C.E. 2000. EOS Sup. 9 May:S64.

Romani, P.N., K.S. Hackett, and T. Kaplan. 1996. Measuring the size of the world with tomato stakes. Archaeoastr. Ethnoastr. News.21:1,4.

Romani, P.N., K.S. Hackett, and T. Kaplan. 1996. Eratosthenes made easy. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 28:1157.

While Kathy was teaching high school at The California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, she shuttled two of her Language Arts students to Stanford University on the weekends to “tutor” the young Koko, the gorilla, in sign language. Koko was an eager “student,” and Kathy had some memorable moments of being in a cage with a gorilla who loved to swing and then jump into her arms!



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