The easiest way to do this is to put the equation in y = mx + b form. To do this, isolate the y on one side of the equation. The number or fraction in front of the variable x (identified by the letter m in the original equation) is your slope.
[tex]17x-12y=-36 \\ (17x-12y)-17x=(-36)-17x \\ -12y=-17x-36 \\ (-12y)/-12=(-17x-36)/-12 \\ y= \frac{17}{12}x+3[/tex]
The slope of the equation is 17/12 AKA (m=17/12).
Hope this helps!
