Ahh yes, the five paragraph essay.
Then again, starting in my sophomore year I stopped listening to them. I wrote how I wanted to write, and how I could best get across my ideas on paper. I thought the five-paragraph essay was too overused and trite, as well as too restrictive, and overall a bad influence on my writing, so I ditched it. It may have been great in elementary or middle school, but I hated in in high school.
My English teacher did not mind the change; actually my grades went up (and have stayed there) after I stopped following the five-paragraph model. I guess my new style of writing works, because I scored a 710 on the writing section of my last SAT.
