James Miller graduated from Arkansas Tech University in 1986. He taught in the Helena-West Helena (Arkansas) School District for 4 years, teaching 4^th, 3^rd, and 2^nd grades. He has taught 5^th grade in Farmington, Arkansas, since 1992. He is currently teaching 5^th grade Science at the Randall G. Lynch Middle School in Farmington.

After participating in the FIRSTSTEP program out of Texas A&M, his curriculum has developed to focus on environmental issues. During the summer of 2000, he was a participant in the Woodrow Wilson Environmental Science Institute at Princeton University.