UNDERSTANDING NEGATIVE INTEGERS

Understanding negative integers can be confusing. "A number gets larger but it is lower?"
SAY WHAT?!?!?!?

I hope these tips will help when dealing with negative integers:

• Negative integers are less than zero.
• The further you walk away from zero the smaller the integer becomes.
• Students get confused because we say smaller but the number looks larger, you could say the greater the debt, or the greater the problem. (debt and problem are negative keywords)
• When comparing negative integers ask yourself which is worse.
• ex: -43 and -23 
• If you put a situation to represent the negative you could think of this as "I lost 43 dogs and "I lost 23 dogs." Which is worse? 
• -43 is worse, therefore it will be the smallest integer.
• -43 is smaller because it is farther away from zero than -23.