Slope Dude and My Script Calculator

I previewed Slope Dude with my Algebra I class because about half of the students were gone for various reasons.  As soon as it started the puff puff part, the kids were saying it along with the narrator.  These are 9th and 10th graders.

They loved the video and will not object to seeing it again Monday.  I'm using it to introduce slope to them as a way of building prior knowledge for our linear algebra unit.  One of those young folks who hates working was saying "Its cool."

It is a great introduction to help students remember the slopes and the sign associated with the slope.  On Monday,  after watching the video, I am going to have the students recreate the graph shown in the video for their interactive notebooks.  I hope this helps my Algebra I students take ownership of their learning.

It was also due to this group that I learned more about the My Script Calculator app.  I knew I could put in 3() + 2 = 8 for 3x + 2 = 8 and get an answer but you can't write the equation with two variables and have it provide an answer.  Once the students rewrote the equations so there was only one variable, it worked fine.  The kids loved working with this and over time have developed a preference for it.  They find its faster to use their fingers to write the problem rather than trying to use a regular calculator. 

They still use a regular calculator because this only performs calculations.  It does not graph or have a table of values.  This