Ideally, I would have taught this lesson in a tenth grade class full of ELL students. Alas, my colleagues at e-Learning decided to help me out. The lesson was originally intended to take six sessions. We did it in one three hour session with several hours of independent work. I suspect the level of technology skills in the tenth grade classroom might not exceed my or my colleagues skill levels. Regardless, none of my colleagues had ever used iMovie and with only a bit of frustration they were able to produce a relatively good digital story.
I really liked the down and dirty narrative. Using Linda Christensen's lesson as a guide, I suspect this would be a great way to get ELL students writing short sentences that help develop their vocabulary. I also think that you don't have to have a fabulously written narrative to end up with a product that you are proud of. The narrative, soundtrack, images, and transitioning all work together to tell the story. I thought this was a fascinating project and I am really happy that I was able to demonstrate the lesson with my coworkers.
Next time, I would definitely give the time I allotted to the entire project versus rushing it into one day. I would also put together a short iMovie tutorial showing how to manipulate and edit the audio, images, and soundtrack.