This six-section manual provides information for preparing appropriate classroom narratives and their accompanying student engagement ratings. The manual's introduction emphasizes the importance of an accurate classroom narrative, which is a detailed record of events, time use, and behavior in the classroom. Also discussed is the recording of student engagment ratings, which are recorded time intervals for periodic ratings of student involvement in the classroom. The manual's first section describes the general features of good classroom narratives. The second explains a technique which may be utilized to train observers to an assured level of agreement. The third, fourth, and fifth sections present specific guideline questions which are related to the purposes of observational research and focus specifically upon: (1) classroom, teacher, and student behavior; (2) interactions between student teachers and cooperating teachers; and (3) contextual variables. The sixth section describes the use of the student engagement ratings. Forms used in the classroom are appended together with examples and commentary. Also appended are a guide to classroom protocol and a list explaining concepts and terms used in this text for those inexperienced in classroom observation. (JD)