Most children find the task of linguistic expression a dull exercise and laborious and the act of writing-laborious!! In this age of texting and multitasking getting children interested in writing is a struggle for teachers especially to those children who have trouble focusing and hate to read and write. It is suggests to start with content and ignore form. Let them write on subject of their choice and do not worry about spellings and grammar as of now. Same goes for developing reading habit. Do not make any semi-arbitrary rules about appropriate reading material. Reading and writing should be fun and not overly rigid and rule-bound which is a definite put off.
In most of the schools Maths, Science and standardized testing is given importance over writing as a classroom subject. Many students have good verbal storytelling skills. You need to hone those storytelling skills by encouraging them to put it on paper and during the revision process punctuation and grammar can be worked upon. Lastly, appreciation, recognition, perhaps getting their writings published further motivates them to write.
