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"Almost everyone at first glance, individually saw one thing and with further concentration and scrutiny brought themselves to see a different image. I wanted to draw upon this and create a similar dynamic with my group of students to help them see not only what an argument was but also the value of arguing for your perception of something."

Very glad to hear about this.  Maybe you could tell us more about your experience with it as one of the open conversations later in the semester? 

My experience too is that students, at all levels, is that they tend "to write about very obvious topics and didn't see why anyone should question the topic" and find that "the development of a thesis and/or arguments was easier said than done."  To put it differently, students tend to accept the "obvious" (to themselves and/or as it is described by other people) and repeat it rather than looking for the less obvious, an alternative, and developing that themselves.  I like a lot the idea of explicitly encouraging students to create/develop their own "realities" (cf Evolution of science education as story telling and story revising; a "course objective" is "To achieve new, previously unconceived understandings for oneself and contribute to others doing so.").  And I like your use of "images within images," making explicit the different ways different people see the same thing, as both encouragement and grist for the process.