You learned the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors, and you should know that the dot product of a vector with itself is the square of the magnitude of the vector. So ##\vec b \cdot \vec b = |\vec b|^2##, or you can write it in the form ##a=\sqrt {{\vec b} ^2}##, ##b## meaning the magnitude of ##\vec b##.
You have the time dependent velocity vector ##\vec v(t)## . The speed is its magnitude, ##v(t)= \sqrt {{\vec v(t)} ^2}##
v(t) is just a function of ##\vec v##, and ##\vec v## is a function of t, Determine dv/dt, using the chain rule. What do you get?
It might be confusing that ##\vec v## is vector. How would you differentiate a function F(t)=f(g^2(t)) with respect to time?