Interesting perspective on teaching math.

I was doing research on the internet to find some real world math problems that I could have my students do and I stumbled across this blog http://blog.keycurriculum.com/2012/03/what-do-you-wonder-real-world-math-problems-are-everywhere/
In it, the author has a short video of Annie Fetter from the Math Forum in which she says we should use senarios with questions like What do you notice? and What do you wonder? You are not after the students to actually solve it just look at it and find information.  The class has a discussion on it and then for homework you have the students write about what they talked about in class that day.  Toward the end of the entry are three websites, one of which has some great things to use for that. 
This is a cool way to integrate writing into the classroom while being able to assess student thinking and understanding of certain math ideas. 
I am always looking for new ways to integrate writing and to assess student understanding.  My students due to cultural influences are afraid to make a mistake and want you to check all their problems.  I need to help them be less afraid of making mistakes and being willing to work independently.
If anyone has ideas or scenarios I could use in a High School math class, I would love to hear.