Rolling mating in SHORT is breeding the best pullets to the best cocks, and the best hens to the best cockerels each year. There's more to it than that, but, I'll someone else elaborate.
Clan matings is too complex for me to type out in brief. Wait for saladin's article.
Craig Russell with Dick Demansky and Christine Heinrichs wrought a article for Backyard poultry titled Traditional Breeding Programs for the Home Flock.
In the article they have information on Rolling Matings, Grading, Clan Matings, Breeding Out-and-Out, Keeping Records, and Trap Nesting.
I would suggest picking one breed to start with, and STICK to it! Lol, it's so easy to get new breeds of chickens. Study the SOP, go to shows talk to breeders, look at birds, learn who's who. Keep records, We use Bandetts and bands for that on an XL Spread Sheet, we have it set up by Band #, Breed, Veriety, Hatch Month/Year, Bloodline (ie, Person you bought it from, and then 'Other' i normally put wether i bought it or hatched it. You could go as far as to add a "Show Results" section and keep track of how it does at shows, i normally only note BV BB and higher.