Persuasive Writing - Exemplar 1

My task: to write a speech to deliver to my Fast Track classes, persuading them to make more use of the interactive, internet sites I have created to extend their learning.
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Click. Learn. Succeed. Who ever thought the mouse could be mightier than the pen? Well, I took some convincing myself, and was cynical too at first. But now I am a fanatical convert, and worship at the cybertemple every day.

Almost every household in this country has access to the internet these days, either at home, in a public library, or at the cybercafe down the road; so nobody can complain that they are not able to use it. Computers are the most popular source of entertainment for the average teen today – so much so that some teens only leave their screen to sleep, eat and go to the toilet; so nobody can complain that it isn’t fun. And the internet has spread knowledge around the world like an intellectual wildfire since it began in the early 1990s; so nobody can complain that it doesn’t teach you anything.

So isn’t it time that learning broke the rusty lock on the classroom door, and leapt into the 21st Century? How much do you post? Are you a blogger? Do you wiki? No? Well, don’t you think the time has come to start? The internet is more immediate than a lesson, more interactive than a book, and more exciting than any piece of homework I was set when I was at school. Want to learn and have fun at the same time? Then the internet is the very best place in which to do so. In fact, it will transform your life, if only you’ll let it.

In 1992, I started as an undergraduate at Oxford University – the most prestigious and eminent learning environment in the whole world. A year later, whilst working through the depth of the night in the college library to meet yet another essay deadline, I happened to come across a computer that hadn’t been there the day before. There was a label on it which read ‘The Worldwide Web’ – and none of us knew what this strange new ‘program’ was, let alone how to use it. So I went back to my desk, and bruised ream after ream with my weary nib.

It doesn’t have to be like that for you. Like generations of students before you, you are dwarfed by a mountain of questions; but, unlike them, you have an online ocean of answers. So dip your toe in the water, splash around a bit, and dive in. It really will be the best decision you ever make.