Rewind: Convention – In 1853, a group of men organized the New Jersey State Teachers Association, and one year later, they held their first annual meeting. What is now known as the NJEA Convention will conduct the 159th event that has become the world’s largest educational gathering. More than 30,000 educators travel to Atlantic City for professional development. They can choose between hundreds of workshops, presentations by national education experts, a high tech hall where educators share technology tools for the classroom, and rows of vendors that have the latest and greatest in educational materials.