Logging in to SL&L

  • SL&L Login Page
  • Account login information will be emailed to you by Watermark as soon as Office of Teacher Education staff enter your teacher candidate’s placement information in SL&L. This email will contain a link that will allow you to log in directly to SL&L.
  • If you do not receive an email from Watermark, but an account has been created for you, you can still log in using the SL&L link above (sometimes school IT settings block outside emails and require human-sender responses in order for the email to be delivered to your inbox).
    • Go to the SL&L login page.
    • Select “Forgot Password,” enter your email address, and select the “Send Link” button. After selecting the “Send Link” button, you should see a confirmation message stating that the link was sent. If you do not see this message, try selecting the “Send Link” button again. You will then receive an email from Watermark to set up your password and access the system.
    • If you do not receive a “Password Reset” email, it may be that an account has not yet been created for you (i.e., usually because we have not received placement information from the candidate). Please contact Bemidji State University’s SL&L administrator (see contact information at the end of this page) so that they can double-check your account status.
    • If your account has been created in SL&L (i.e., you have gotten an email to this effect from the SL&L administrator), please call Watermark at the telephone number below and have them manually reset your password. Unfortunately, the BSU administrator does not have control over the password reset process.
  • For step-by-step information on how to log in, please watch the short video guide: Logging in to SL&L- Cooperating/Mentor Teachers: Video Guide (1:14)

PLEASE NOTE: Cooperating teachers are called “mentors” in SL&L – Bemidji State University has no control over this terminology.

Field Experience

Approving Field Hours

    • Candidates should be submitting field hours for mentor teacher approval each day they complete hours. We recommend that mentors log in to the system once a week to approve these hours.
    • All hours must be approved/rejected by the end of the semester. Any hours that are still pending at the time grades are submitted will result in the candidate receiving an “I” (incomplete) grade for their field experience course. If the candidate is receiving financial aid, their aid payments may be frozen until their grade is updated.
    • Candidates should separate their hours by day. For example, if a candidate enters 20 hours in one day, this should be rejected and the candidate should be asked to re-do their log.
    • For more information on how to approve field experience hours, please watch the short video guide: Approving Field Experience Hours: Video Guide (2:09)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

      1. Who may approve hours? Only the mentor teacher may approve or reject teacher candidates’ hours. If these are accidentally approved by a BSU faculty member, the hours in question will have to be redone so that they can be approved by the mentor.
      2. How to “fix” approved log entries? This most often happens, not because a cooperating teacher has done anything incorrectly, but because teacher candidates put their log entries in the wrong course. However, once log entries have been approved, they are permanently locked and cannot be modified (only deleted). The only way to resolve this situation is for: (1) the mentor to reject the hours (the candidate cannot see the “reject” option, but the mentor can), (2) the candidate to recreate the log entry (or entries), and (3) the mentor to re-approve the “now-correct” hour(s).

Completing Disposition Forms

    • Disposition forms should be completed toward the end of the candidate’s field experience in the cooperating teacher’s classroom.
    • NOTE: Not all field experience courses require that cooperating teachers complete a disposition form. If you do not see a disposition form in the course dashboard, you do not have to fill one out.
    • The rubric includes four criteria: Dedication/Responsibility, Compassion, Curiosity, and Integrity. Please note that you may need to scroll down within the rubric itself to view the last two criteria.
    • For more information on how to complete disposition forms, please watch the short video guide: Disposition Form: Video Guide (3:19)

You may see a Key Assessment submission area within SL&L. This is a Key Assessment that the candidate submits for evaluation by their course instructor. You can ignore this submission area completely.

Student Teaching

Cooperating teachers are responsible for two activity areas within SL&L for their student teachers: (1) observations and (2) letters of recommendation.

Cooperating Teacher (CT) Observations

    • Up to five (5) CT Observations must be carried out and the respective forms submitted in SL&L by the cooperating teacher(s) during the teacher candidate’s student teaching semester.
    • If the student teacher is pursuing only one license and, as a result, has only one cooperating teacher, this cooperating teacher must complete four (4) CT Observation forms in SL&L.
    • If the student teacher is pursuing two (2) licenses, a total of five (5) CT Observations must be carried out. Each cooperating teacher must complete at least one (1) CT observation form in SL&L. The distribution of who completes the remaining observations does not matter (e.g., 1/4 or 2/3).

Cooperating Teacher (CT) Letters of Recommendation

    • Each cooperating teacher is asked to complete a letter of recommendation for their teacher candidate by the end of the student teaching semester. These items are titled, “CT Letter(s) of Recommendation- Placement 1” and “CT Letter(s) of Recommendation- Placement 2” in SL&L. If two letters are required because there are two cooperating teachers/placements, it does not matter which cooperating teacher completes Placement 1 or Placement 2).
    • Please make sure that you have signed your letter before uploading the file to SL&L.

For more information on items relevant to cooperating teachers that are not associated with SL&L (e.g., submitting Concern Notifications and obtaining continuing education credits), please see the Student Teaching Documents webpage (under Cooperating Teachers).

To view copies of student teaching checklists that are provided to all student teachers (for your own information – cooperating teachers are not required to review the checklists), please scroll to the Student Teachers section and the links to: “[Semester] [Year] Student Teaching Assignments Checklist…”

Practicum Students (Add-On Licenses)

Cooperating teachers only have to complete two observations within SL&L for their practicum students.

Cooperating Teacher (CT) Observations

    • Only (2) Cooperating Teacher Observations are required to be carried out and submitted in SL&L by the cooperating teacher during the practicum semester.
    • NOTE: Even though PELSB requires that practicum students complete 80 hours of field experience, these do NOT have to be logged in SL&L or anywhere else (this is in contrast to the required cooperating-teacher-approved logs for initial license field experience hours referenced in other sections above).

Contact Information for SL&L Assistance

Watermark Customer Service

  • Phone: (800) 311-5656

Follow the menu prompts to be transferred to SL&L support.

Hours: Monday-Thursday 7am-8pm and Friday 7am-6pm (Central)

BSU Contact / SL&L Administrator

Erika Adams, PhD

Assessment Research Analyst

Office of Teacher Education