The Crossley Factor

As we begin another Brentwood year, we will have to do so without the talents and passions of two longtime pillars of our community, recent retirees Mr. Robert MacLean and Mr. Tony Crossley. In June, 2014 Rob and Tony were recognized by the school. Below is a tribute to Tony delivered by Mr. Harold Wardrop, Head of Mathematics. In the coming days we will feature Tony’s reply as well as Rob’s speech and the testimonial delivered by Mr. Mark Wismer. On man-crush Monday there is only ever one man for me: Tony Crossley. Even though he rejects my hugs and I believe he would rather talk to his computer than to me, Tony Crossley is still my man. This poised, polished and highly intelligent British gentleman, who goes about his daily life maintaining the highest of standards in for all that he does is, I am sure, not unique to my Monday list. But my affection for him goes much deeper than a weekly acknowledgment. In fact, I have been studying him (well more like stalking him) closely for the past 12 years. Let me tell you what I have come to know. You know Mr. Crossley as a teacher of mathematics, but over the past 33 years, his talents were not confined to the math classroom. Yes, he has been the Head of Mathematics, but did you know that he was also the school’s first Head of Computer Science. He was a pioneer in website development and because of his technological opportunism and knowhow, Brentwood was the first school in Canada to have its own website. Mr. Crossley was also the sponsor of the Brentwood Blog. This “Blog” was his creative brainchild and was the precursor of the photojournalism course that he created and taught. Mr. Crossley coached badminton and tennis; he coached soccer and field hockey. And, as you know, he has managed the front of house – in full tuxedo – for 2000 Brentwood musicals! But you guys also know, as do the thousands of other students that he has taught, that it is Mr. Crossley’s dedication and love for his students that truly drives him and is what has kept him in this game for so long. His detail-oriented and thorough-minded approach is born of a deep desire to help students and to instill within them a love of learning and a sense of achievement. His students connect with his passionate, methodical teaching style, his crystal clear exposition of mathematics and with his quirky sense of humour. He is patient. He is caring. And he is keen to see students succeed. And succeed they do because Mr. Crossley insists on developing the understanding of the “process”, the “how” of problem solving, so that mathematics becomes more than just regurgitating algorithms. It is about students believing in their abilities and using their learned techniques and logic to full effect. Tony Crossley is a teacher who inspires confidence in all ability levels; he adapts his teaching style to the class in front of him and he takes infinite pains to get to know his students as individuals so that he can gauge their learning step by step. All this is what I have come to call, “The Crossley Factor”.  And this, specifically, is what I have been studying for the past 12 years, especially for the past two years as his officemate.  And I have developed a formula for the Crossley factor in the hope that other teachers will understand it, follow it, and carry his magic forward.   The Crossley Factor starts with the Integral symbol – a symbol for summation or the adding up of things – it is also somewhat representative of Mr. Crossley’s lean, sexy physique. Then there’s the bounds of Integration – his decades at Brentwood  - a testament to his longevity. Now the function itself is a cubic of “caring”, “creativity”, “cleverness”. This function is multiplied by a fractional constant of “wisdom” over “humility”. And that “dc” – it’s there to identify the independent variable C - the thousands of children’s lives that he has profoundly influenced over the years.

It is the sum of longevity, caring, creativity, cleverness, wisdom and humility, the sole purpose of which is to enrich the lives of the students he teaches. That’s the Crossley factor.  That is why he is so loved. Tony has been my mentor, my colleague, my friend and my man-crush for the past 12 years and I am truly going to miss him.  Harold Wardrop, Head of Mathematics