Tiffany Poirier
Tiffany Poirier
Educator – Author – Speaker
Tiffany Poirier is a national award-winning educator, author, and parent who believes in the power of questions and the infinite gifts of every child. Driven by curiosity, passion, and a quest she’s been on since an early childhood tragedy, Tiffany began her teaching career listening closely when her students asked the same kinds big questions that kept her own young mind awake at night pondering: What is happiness? What is real? How can we make the world a better place?
At age five, Tiffany lost her father, a forest firefighter, when the helicopter he was a passenger in crashed and burned while trying to make an emergency landing off the highway. Although he never came home with the present he had promised her before that fateful trip, Tiffany’s father left her with many gifts she would come to discover over the years: a courageous heart, an ear for great questions, an eye to see every child’s potential, and a voice for speaking out and sharing stories of learning.
Like her mother and grandmother before her, Tiffany found a path through early personal hardship to a teaching career rich with meaning and joy. In her first year on the job, Tiffany began writing and illustrating a critical thinking book dedicated to her students, Q is for Question: An ABC of Philosophy. Down the rabbit hole of adventure and learning in elementary classrooms with her students, she worked for over a decade with learners of diverse needs, both in regular and gifted enrichment programs in the Vancouver and Surrey school districts. During this time, she led workshops for educators and parents and earned an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (UBC, 2012). Tiffany continues to support teaching and innovation through her current role as a District Vice Principal for the Greater Victoria School District. She also offers online video courses for educators, students, and parents at inquiryninja.com.
With her articles, radio features, documentaries, YouTube channel, and a TEDxVictoria talk on “The Power to Question”, Tiffany spotlights youth voices and shares a window into the insights gleaned from her practice. Empowering pint-sized philosophers to pursue their questions in dialogue circles, she helps them grow their ideas through in-depth, passion-based project work. Tiffany received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014 for her contributions and leadership in creative education, inquiry-based learning, and the “Philosophy for Children” (P4C) movement