How do I properly create a page template file to display a custom post type?

I have been searching for two days abut how to do this. My biggest problem is not understanding the functions referenced in the codex, although I have been reading a lot. Learning does take time. I made a child theme of Twentyeleven and have followed all of the steps that I can understand, but still am running into a problem where the page only displays a permalinks to th page I am on, and shows no posts. Someone help please.