Why Professional Development? What the answer is not

I haven't written in a while, which is strange because so much has happened. We had a whole week of very good professional development (GLAD training based on best practices especially for English Language Learners and 1 day of Singapore math). The kind of professional development in which you know you learned something and you know you will use what you learned, because it makes so much sense. In a way, it's validating that this is what the "powers that be" are encouraging us to do. It seems child-centered, language-development centered, and in the case of one day training with Singapore math, conceptual understanding focused. This is in line with my philosophy of teaching. A couple of times the trainers referred to how the students will do better on tests if you use these strategies, and I noted my dislike for that reference on their evaluation. I understand that testing is so much a part of our teaching culture, that to suggest that it is not important "does not compute." Writing is important, communication is important, language is important, thinking is important. But standardized high stakes testing is not that important. At some point, my way of thinking will be the norm and not the radical viewpoint. So I have to keep saying it, planting those seeds, reminding people to always have their teaching philosophy at the front of their consciousness. Most teachers don't say that the reason they teach is so their students can do well on tests. I hope not anyways. Most teachers will say either they love children and want to make a difference in their lives or they love a certain subject and want to share that love with their students.