Understanding Absolute Value

I have found that using a number line is the quickest, and smartest way for finding the absolute value of a given number. Below are two images for finding the absolute value of a positive number, and negative.

When broken down, and shown with a number, I myself was better able to find the absolute value of any number put in front of me. If elementary children are shown this way, I think that they will have a better time understanding absolute value.

Coming across a problem like│5│=?  This problem is asking the number inside the bars distance from zero. It is important to remember that the answer will always be positive. The first thing you do when you come across an absolute value problem, after reading and analyzing, is to set up a number line. Second, you locate and label the number that is inside of the bars. Last, you count how many you are away from zero and have your answer. I discovered a great song to help students in calculating their answers.

Sometimes you may come across a problem that looks like this:

-│7│=? or -│-7│=?

What do you do? This can be extremely confusing for students because they have been taught that the answer will always be positive. In these special cases however, the negative is placed on the outside of the bars (it is not actually part of the absolute value, its on the sidelines if you will). You would go about and use the number to find your answer, and in the end would carry the negative over, thus getting -7.