Metering with thought to what details I'm looking for is what I use in weird or complex lighting. Whether I am focusing on what is in the shadows or what is in the highlights depends on what I'm looking at and what I happen to care about for a given scene. Sometimes the lighting is simple and narrow, and metering is easy. Other times I have to accept that I'm going to blow out highlights or lose texture in the blacks. Sometimes I will adjust things to deliberately hide something in the blacks or whites.
A handheld incident meter will read the light falling on the scene, which in theory is the 'correct' metering. It, and 'sunny 16', will cover you on the majority of shots you're likely to take. - Place it "At the subject", such as under a persons chin if you're doing a portrait. (Do remember to double check you're not casting a shadow on it yourself. A fun and silly mistake to make when tired.) For situations with more dramatic lighting, you need to decide what is important? Do you want to 'look into the shadows' of a scene, in which case you would put the meter's dome in shadow, or do you care about what is in the light? You can take a number of readings to get a better feel of the light if needed, and adjust to something more in the middle.
Since you need to rely on a reflective meter for the assignment: do remember that the meter is a tool for measuring light, but it is still up to you to decide on an exposure. If you have nothing but bright things in the scene with little in the way of shadow, then you may find yourself having to pull back down from what the meter suggests. It doesn't know if you're pointing at a lump of coal or an arc-lamp, and it doesn't care and will assume the scene is generally average. Spend time with your metering tools, and stop to think about what the meter can see before accepting its numbers on face value.
Picking up a target with black-grey-white on it may be a helpful tool to better understand what you're getting out of your meter.
If you are really unsure as to which is the best exposure, then bracketing your shots is also a very useful tool. Tricky lighting is, well, tricky. You don't want to burn through your film of course, but taking 2-3 shots and deciding which exposure has the details you are truly happy with after the fact can be useful in many cases.
Good luck, have fun.