Classroom Segments: The Structuring of School Time *

At the beginning of each school year teachers are assigned a group of students and given various resources to use to teach them. One of the most important characteristics about the structure of school activity segments is that they do not always occur sequentially, but instead two, or sometimes even more, segments completely or partially overlap with one another in time. For most elementary school teachers the structure of much of the school day is under their control. Probably one of the most critical periods of the school year is the time when the teacher creates the weekly schedule of activities for his or her class. Many different kinds of transitions occur in the typical elementary school classroom. Based on specimen record methodology, the classroom chronicle strives to be a permanent, narrative description of everyday behaviour in school settings. The purpose of chronicle recording is to obtain as complete a record as possible of the activities operating in a classroom.