Post- Reading Activities

TRES FABULAE HORRIFICAE: THE PLAY
One of the most engaging and instructive activities that can be done with these stories (and others) is to have students act them out.  To do this, you need to break the students into small groups, assign them each a scene from one of the stories and have them transcribe the scene as a play.  As each story is nearly all dialogue, this shouldn't be difficult. (The Teacher's Resource Guide still in process) will contain the stories in dramatic format to make this task easier. 
     Since most of the scenes contain only 2-4 characters, you might also want to appoint a director and a sound affect manager to each group.  The director is responsible to write in stage directions as well as emotions to the lines.  The sound affect manager should create sounds affects physically or from a computer and play them at the appropriate time during the performance. These roles are also useful to create participation for students who are reluctant to perform.
     If your school has the resources, the students can also film the scene as a movie or an audio story. (Tunica Rubra since it contains scenes in several different locations might work well in either of these two formats) Give the students several periods to practice and then have them perform the story.
​     Whenever I have asked students to act out a story that we have read, my initial reaction is to doubt my sanity when confronted with the din created by 5 groups of students simultaneously practicing their scenes. After the assessment, however, I always feel vindicated since students consistently demonstrate that they have acquired a great deal of the material. 

ADDING NEW SCENES TO THE STORY
Another creative activity to do after reading, is the have students write additional scenes for the text.  This will especially engaging for your advanced students.  Students can create these scenes comic book style either by drawing them or by using one of many comic creation kits on-line. I recommend Storyboard That.  It is the easiest comic creation that I have found and has many different historical settings and people.

Here are some scenes to consider:  (Big spoiler alert here if you haven't read the stories)
Necare Mortem: - The three friends discover that they are "dead."  What conversation would they have with each other with death whom they can finally see and meet?

Manus Simii: In the final scene, Mrs. White is not able to open the door before Mr. White makes his final wish.  Suppose she had?  What would she see? What would take place?                OR 
Colonel Morris alludes to the fact that another man wished on the paw with the result that his last wish was "for death."  What did this first person wish for and what exactly happened to him? 

Tunica Rubra: Cornelia Rufini disappears into the woods and presumably is reunited with Lucius.  Write the scene where the two long lost lovers are reunited.                                                     OR
Cornelia Rufini reveals to Antonia that Lucius killed his brother. What exactly happened?  Write the scene where the murder took place.

Note: For additional reading practice, the Teacher's Resource Guide contains some new scenes as well - none of which have been described here.