The Outcasts of Poker Flat Lesson Plan
Goal: WI Model Academic Standards: A.12.2 Read, interpret, and critically analyze literature by
investigating and reporting on ways in which a writer has influenced or been influenced by historical,
social, and cultural issues or events.
Objective: A student will be able to determine whether different characters within The Outcasts of
Poker Flat should be labeled as outcasts.
Assessment:
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Students will participate in small group work and analyze whether or not their character should
be an outcasts. Those not presenting will give evidence about why they agree or disagree after
the presenting group has given their stance.
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Students will complete a take home assignment and write about how they can explain the story
is from the realism/regionalism era.
Materials needed: print out of The Outcasts of Poker Flat, handouts on realism/regionalism, chalkboard,
chalk
Time Needed: Total time= 55 minutes
Introduction of genre – 10 minutes
Summarizing story (assuming it was read ahead of time) – 10 minutes
Form Groups/explain group work/ working in groups – 15 minutes
Group Presentations – 15 minutes
Assign/explain homework – 5 minutes
Procedure:
Introduction – To focus students’ attention, I will ask them to explain to me what they think the terms
regionalism and realism mean. I will write these terms on the board for later use.
Developing the Lesson
1) Introduce the genre more thoroughly while allowing them to fill in the blanks on the handouts
passed out in class on regionalism and realism. I will ask them whether or not their definitions of
the genre matched those given.
2) Transition to The Outcasts of Poker Flat and ask them to summarize the story for me. I will also
ask them what they define an outcast as. What was the basic premise of the story? Why were
the characters labeled as “outcasts?” Summarize the story more thoroughly for them.
3) Explain that there will be group presentations and they will work within their assigned groups
analyzing different characters and whether or not those characters should be labeled as
“outcasts.” Allow them to work for 15 minutes.
4) Have each group present one by one. After each group is done presenting, ask those not
presenting whether they agree or disagree with the conclusion of the presenting group. Why do
you think this character should or shouldn’t be labeled as an “outcast?”
5) Summarize how these characters were most likely based on real people that the author
encountered in the West during his stay there. Explain that to society back then, these people
were probably labeled as outcasts because of who they were.
6) Explain assignment for next class. Homework should be explaining in one or two paragraphs why
The Outcasts of Poker Flat is labeled as a regionalism story and give evidence of it from the
story.
American Literature
Realism and Regionalism
Realism
Realism is a _____________ against ______________. It is about _______________ events and
how ____________ really is. It’s provided as an _______________ for a writer’s
_______________. Realism finds the ___________ and ______________ beneath the
________________ surface of life. Writers in this genre are more _______________ and
_________________. They get to the heart of ___________________________ without losing
how ________________ the story is.
Regionalism
Regionalism _______________ demands of _______________ who wanted to know how people
lived in _____________________________________________. The writer’s aim was to
______________ the special __________________ and __________ _______________ of an
______________ and ________________. Regionalism deals with the lives of _______________
people. Writers use ______________ dialect and ______________ descriptions of character
activities. They also use ______________ descriptions of ________________ and the
_____________________________ being portrayed because it’s important. Good regionalist
writing used ________ ________________ of their local scene to give their _________________
and __________________ to the _______________________.
Bret Harte (1836 – 1902)
Bret Harte was born in the eastern United States in Albany, New York. He moved west in 1854.
In the 1850s, the Gold Rush ignited a huge move to the West because everyone wanted to strike
it rich. Mining towns were created and small towns turned to cities. History was being made
back then and Bret Harte wrote stories about the West that made him successful and famous in
America and England because people who couldn’t actually experience life in the West were
able to experience it through his literature. They wanted to know what the West was like.